


Taste of Love

by radhaj



Category: L'Arc~en~Ciel
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Collars, Dubious Consent, Dubious Morality, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, M/M, Master/Servant, Master/Slave, Multi, Sexual Content, Sexual Slavery, Sexual Training, Shota, Slave Trade, Slavery, Underage Character, Underage Kissing, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-25
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-06 10:13:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 17
Words: 53,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/734506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radhaj/pseuds/radhaj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a country where slavery is the main source of income, Hideto sacrifices his own freedom to protect his sister's. Young and impressionable, he finds himself giving his trust to the kind slave trainer that bought him, but there is no hope anymore for the inexperienced boy to ever experience what love is now that he's no longer in control of his own life... or is there?</p><p>Complete AU so readable even if you don't know any of the characters at all. Go ahead and slap on some other names on them in your head if you want, but PLEASE take note of the tags and warnings before reading.</p><p>ON HIATUS but not abandoned</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Hideto trembled as he watched the men in front of him. They were big, and strong – nothing like his own scrawny figure. And they were powerful. So powerful, influential, so rich, that noone ever dared defy them. But... how could he stay quiet now? When they...

He winced when he saw one of the men push his older sister into the arms of another, who then leered at her and touched her beautiful, pure body with his dirty big hands. The girl tried to protest, tried to get away from the strong hold, but they just laughed at her.

“Come on, little girl, you weren't so shy when you came to us to borrow money,” they taunted her, while Hideto stood, scared, a few steps away, his hands clenched into fists at his sides, “You're months late with giving it back, did you expect us to just let you go for looking pretty? Time to pay up. And if you can't, we'll just have to get our money back some other way. By selling you as a slave, for example. You surely would get us pretty penny with a body like that,” they laughed again, looking her over like she was... a piece of merchandise or something, and that just was more than Hideto could take.

“You can't do that!” he screamed, launching himself at the men to try and free his sister, but they swatted him back as if he were no bigger than a fly, making him stumble backwards and fall on his ass, prompting another bout of laughter from the burly men.

“Oh yes we can,” one of them actually deigned to answer him, “Your sister owes us a substantial sum of money, and is unable to pay up. By the laws of this country, we can do whatever we want with her to get it back.”

Hideto whimpered as he picked himself up from the floor, but couldn't really say anything in response once he was standing again. By the laws of this country...

The man was right, of course. If you lived in the screwed up country like Sklabitia - a country that supplied a big part of the rest of the world with well-trained slaves, you learned to live as quietly and unnoticeably as possible just so you wouldn't attract the wrong kind of attention. The government, and the justice system were never created to protect you, just to make it easier for the people of the upper social status. The nobles.

In fact, Sklabitia only had four main social classes. First of all were the nobles, including the royalty. For a small country like this, the number of nobles was suspiciously high, but the country, in general, was rich enough to support the luxurious lifestyles of all of them.

Then, of course, there were the slaves – the biggest resource of income for the country. They even got imported from other countries here, just to be trained by the incredibly good and talented slave traders of this land, who made up the third class.

And finally, there was a rather small number of regular people. People like Hyde and his sister, who did the most necessary work here. People that ran restaurants, people that owned small shops, farmers... people who ran the brothels and also the prostitutes. People that lived simple lives, earning barely enough money to survive on. People that made this country able to function by taking care of the basics. Of course, most of the shops and small businesses also got slave-workers there almost all the time, as the trainers also needed to have their slaves be able to work so they'd be useful to their future Masters. But if it were not for the simple people, none of these basic structures of society would have even existed.

Hideto and his sister worked on a pretty big farm, owned by a minor noble, for all of their lives. They were barely educated well enough to read and write and count. All they've known most of their lives was how to work the soil and how to take care of the cattle. All they could truly trust on was having each other, ever since their parents died in an accident a few years ago. And now their hard, but at least peaceful, life was being interrupted. Hideto was about to lose the last thing he had, and he couldn't help but look at his sister with tears in his eyes. Why did she do this, why did she borrow the money? He hadn't known about it at all until a few minutes ago, when these men had burst into their tiny home and grabbed her.

But of course he could guess, even though he didn't want to admit it. For over a year now, he had thought that the numbers weren't adding up. He truly had never been that good at counting though, so he mostly just dismissed it as that... or maybe he just didn't want to admit he found it suspicious. The money they earned on the farm shouldn't have been enough for them to pay the rent and the food. They should have starved, most likely. And now he knew why they hadn't... His sister, his beautiful and loving sister, had done the only thing she could think of to be able to take care of her little brother.

“Please,” he spoke up again, swallowing down his pride and bowing before the men in hopes that would make them have mercy, “Give us a bit more time, I beg you. We will return you the money, just release my sister, have pity. Take me instead if you have to...”

His plea got cut off, however, when instead of taking him seriously the men started laughing again.

“Take  _you_  instead?” one of them asked, “Who would even pay enough for a scrawny kid like you? A man, for that? Though, I have to admit, you _are_  pretty,” the man's voice lost the mocking note slowly, and he suddenly sounded thoughtful, even stepping out towards the bowing boy, grabbing his chin to raise his face and inspect it. Hideto, of course, did not dare to try and get away from the touch, “There's been a bigger market for male slaves lately. It used to be only a few noble women who would want their own pet to satisfy their desires, but now men are no longer unwilling to admit their taste for pretty boys like you... Exactly like you. Petite, slightly feminine, pretty-faced... Say what, little boy. We can make a deal. We'll let your sister go free, if you really want to save her, if in three days you can convince someone to buy you for enough money instead.”

Hideto's heart was beating insanely fast in his chest, and he felt sick when he heard the suggestion. Becoming a slave? Him? And to a man at that? He was not naïve or ignorant of what the slaves were mostly used for – noone in this country was, not even little kids. Could he really... could he really submit to that? Becoming a plaything to some old, perverted noble, with no hope of ever being freed? Pleasing a man sexually... He had never even thought about it. He would sometimes dream about meeting a girl at some point, maybe, but he had never even thought about being attracted to men...

But that did not even matter, right? If he was supposed to be a slave... It didn't matter what he liked and what he didn't. The only thing that mattered was that he had no choice about it. And he truly had no choice here. He was not going to let his sister suffer this fate instead. His beloved sister who only ever had his best intentions in her heart, who had sacrificed so much for him already.

“I'll do it. Just let Gina-chan go,” he said, before he could change his mind, but that only made his sister suddenly start struggling more.

“No, Hide-chan, don't do this!” she screamed, with tears in her own eyes, finally managing to move so much that the man who had been holding her until then released her, and she dashed towards the man that seemed to be the group's leader, lashing out at him and beating her small fists again his chest, “You can't do this, you can't take him because of me!  _I_  took the money, he has nothing to do with it!” she screamed, before the man caught her by her wrists and stopped her, making her slide onto her knees on the ground, sobbing helplessly.

“Well, but he offered himself up so nicely. You should be happy, you know, having such a lovely little brother who's willing to do so much for you. Besides, it might still not work, if he doesn't succeed in getting someone interested in him,” the man spoke, and let her wrists go, making her collapse completely, “Come on, get the boy then. We'll get him washed up and outfitted well, and bring him to the market today already. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky,  _Hide-chan_ ,” he snared mockingly, and Hideto could only stand, frozen because he was simply so overwhelmed by the situation. He could barely believe what was happening when the man that had come close to him suddenly got a rope from somewhere, tying his wrists behind his back and then tugging on it harshly to get him moving. His feet heavy, he started following the men out the door, but when he was about to pass the collapsed figure of his sister, he stopped in his tracks, despite the men impatiently tugging on the rope again.

He knew he had to say goodbye now. If this worked - and as afraid of that as he was, he truly hoped it  _would_  – noone would bother with giving him an opportunity to see his sister again, or talk with her at all. This was possibly the last time it ever happened. He suddenly fell to his knees beside her shaking from sobs figure, and bent down to kiss the top of her head and then whisper into her ear.

“It will be okay, Gina-chan, I promise,” he said, the strength in his voice surprising even him as he knew he didn't truly feel it. But he hoped that would comfort the girl at least, even if they both knew it was an empty promise. The beautiful girl raised her face then, and suddenly embraced him tightly.

“You shouldn't have done it. You shouldn't have... I should have been the one...” she she said, crying still, before managing to control herself a little, knowing as well as he did that nothing could be changed now anymore, “Be careful, please, Hide-chan.”

That was all she managed to say before the men lost patience completely and tugged on the rope even more harshly, making him stand up and follow them out, not looking back. He did not know what was waiting for him in the future, but he was at least glad that he was granted this chance to save his sister from it. Now he only had to figure out what he could do to convince someone to buy him.


	2. Chapter 2

Tetsuya wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand as he walked the familiar streets of the Slave Market. The summers were always unforgivingly hot in Sklabitia, but this year had to be record-breaking. Yet there was no rest for the slave trainers. While the rest of the population stayed at home when the sun was at its highest during midday, the Market was still bustling with the buyers, the sellers and the sold.

Tetsuya supposed he could have waited before coming here again – the day was especially hot, after all. But there was no guarantee it would get any better in the next few days, and he had just sold one of his girls to her new Master yesterday so he was looking to replace her already. He usually worked with at _least_ three slaves at the same time, as he liked using them to help with each others training, so he hoped to take back maybe even two new ones home today, considering he was down to only two now.

The Slave Market was never a happy place. How _could_ it be, when the trade of human lives (or mostly-human, he corrected himself, when he saw a cat-girl flicking her tail out the corner of his eye) was happening here. But Tetsuya, having been in the business ever since he was fifteen and having known he _would_ be years before that, was well used to it by now. He was not said to be one of the best in this for no reason, after all, he had trained more slaves than he could count by now.

Most of the slaves weren't exactly _sad_ either. Mostly they were resigned. The great majority of them had been born knowing they would be sold some day, after all. They had never had any other prospects in their lives as they had been pretty much bred for this, only able to live out mostly “normal” lives until they matured.

Then again “mature” was a relative term as well.

The Slave Market was a slight mess, however. Slaves that were still to be trained were sold alongside those who were ready for their Masters already. Younger ones beside older ones, human beside _others_ , males beside females who got mixed with ones whose gender was... less defined. There was no system, and one always had to pass through all of it, looking for what they wanted exactly. And Tetsuya was looking for fresh slaves, ones that had yet to be molded and trained, and sometimes even had yet to be broken. Those ones were, of course, sometimes more trouble than they were worth, but at least they raised a challenge and made things more interesting for him.

Quite like this one, he thought, as he stopped before one of prettiest ones on sale that day. So pretty, and so ripe for picking. Still had a fire in the eyes, not broken at all, possibly someone who used to be free and sold into slavery because of debt or a similar circumstance. Tetsuya could deduce all of that with a single glance, from the way the slave stood, from the posture, from the attitude and the expression on the face. And yet, no matter how lovely otherwise this particular slave seemed, it was a male. Sure, he was androgynous enough that even Tetsuya wavered for a second before dubbing the gender on him, but he was sure of it now. And Tetsuya specialized in females only.

“Does the boy interest you, Sir?” there was suddenly a man beside him, obviously the one selling the boy, and Tetsuya cursed inwardly. He obviously stood staring for long enough that he had seemed like a potential buyer, and now the man won't let him go easily, trying to convince him to buy as persistently as these annoying people could. And although Tetsuya knew he was experienced enough not to fall for any marketing tricks, he still lingered. It won't hurt to listen for a bit, after all. And maybe he should expand his horizons anyway. Males were getting a very quickly increasing demand lately, and he could perhaps use one too? It would be especially useful if he could pair him up with the girls, so they'd have some other male to practice their skills with...

“He wasn't _born_ into slavery, was he?” he asked, and suddenly the pretty slave, who had been looking down before that, looked up at him with wide eyes. He seemed surprised that someone was actually showing interest in him. Even weirdly hopeful. Tetsuya ignored it, however.

“Yes, Sir, I see you're experienced in the business. He's indeed only being sold in hopes it would pay off a debt,” the seller explained in the meantime, and Tetsuya nodded as it was just like he had expected. He circled around the petite man, looking over his slender figure that was scantly clad in the usual, small silky clothes that slaves usually got to wear while in the Market. His hands were bound by a piece of rope behind his back, also as usual.

He was _very_ well built, Tetsuya had to admit. His skin was slightly bronze, as if he spent most of his time outside, but not overly so (a farmer, probably, Tetsuya noted in his head). He also was skinny, but more in a fit than bony kind of way. He had a fair bit of muscle, Tetsuya could see once he casually lifted up the shirt to look at his stomach (it was completely normal to inspect merchandise like this, since they were supposed to serve very intimate needs and body was important after all), and though he had yet to be shaved, even his cock and balls seemed lovely when Tetsuya tugged the waistband of his pants down to inspect them in broad daylight, making he boy blush from embarrassment though he stayed still and quiet.

What worried Tetsuya most was how tense the man had become when being touched like this, like he was barely holding back from protesting incredibly much. It meant the boy could possibly be very hard to break, which of course made sense considering his circumstances. He obviously knew he had no choice, as he _did_ hold back after all, but after he was bought, he would probably become troublesome.

There were laws preventing slavers from just giving up on slaves, and once bought, a slave had to either be kept in good conditions or sold to someone else who was willing to take care of them. It was probably one of the very few laws that were there for the _protection_ of the slaves, since that meant they wouldn't just be thrown out once they got old. The Masters took permanent responsibility for them when buying.

And of course, Tetsuya approved of those laws completely. But it did mean that, since this pretty male slave would just be relieved once he was bought once and his debt had been paid off, he could start misbehaving incredibly afterwards without fear of Tetsuya just changing his mind about it. And Tetsuya would not be able to sell him to anyone else, since the boy won't have any incentive to not look like he was troublesome and thus scare off any potential buyers.

“How large is his debt?” Tetsuya asked then, since it was meaningless to keep thinking about it so much without even knowing what kind of money the talk was going about.

“Two thousand one hundred forty pieces of gold, Sir,” the seller answered immediately, “Plus an extra two hundred because of marketing expenses.”

“Marketing expenses” only meant that the man trying to sell the boy was only hired buy the true “owners” of him to take care of the business, and that was his agreed upon reward. But Tetsuya didn't really care about that. Only one thought was circling in his head now. This was really expensive. No wonder the boy looked so hopeless, and so surprised when someone showed interest in him. The market for males was fairly young. That meant there was a slight disparity as far as prices went – people were willing to pay a lot for a trained one, as the supply was low, but because of the risk involved, and because there was no knowing if they would be able to sell the slave well, slave trainers usually bought them first-hand for only pennies.

But this one was very expensive. Quite a few trainers probably already passed on buying him. It was just too risky. Of course, if the training went well, Tetsuya would probably be able to sell him for ten times the current price, but what was going to guarantee success?

“Please, Sir,” the boy spoke up, unexpectedly, and Tetsuya stared at him surprised, “If noone buys me by the end of tomorrow, they will take my sister instead. I beg of you, don't let them do it. Please buy me,” the pretty man pleaded, and Tetsuya was not sure how to even respond. Slaves rarely ever dared speak up themselves, but then again, this was not a regular slave, so maybe it was not that unexpected. Still, Tetsuya could not allow himself be swayed by the sad story. Every slave had one. He couldn't afford being sorry in this profession.

But this did give him more information about the slave. The boy was sacrificing himself for his sister, which meant he had great values. He also sounded polite, which was a very important skill for slaves to have. It also meant that he just might be grateful enough to be bought to not cause as much trouble for Tetsuya as the slaver feared he would.

“What is your name, slave?” he asked then, preferring to talk with the boy directly rather than ask the seller, now that he knew the man was not afraid to speak up.

“Hideto, Sir. Takarai Hideto.”

“This is your family's debt then, not a personal one, if your sister is involved?” he continued questioning, as he wanted to know if the boy had just been irresponsible enough to land himself in this situation.

“She borrowed the money to make ends meet after our parents died,” the boy answered, looking down, “I knew nothing of it until a few days ago.”

“I see,” Tetsuya spoke, a bit pleased by the honesty of the answers he was hearing, “Very admirable of you, then, to take responsibility for her actions. But do you truly realize what you are asking for? This is not something you will be able to ever get out of. It is completely permanent, you will never be free after you're sold once. You will lose your identity, you will only be valued by your skills of pleasing another and ability to mindlessly obey. In the eyes of society, you will completely lose your status as a human and become a property instead. Are you truly ready for that?”

Normally, when it came to usual slaves, Tetsuya would have never bothered asking any of this. But by the sound of things, it was not only that this Hideto hadn't grown up knowing he would one day be sold – it was obviously a completely impulse decision on his part to do this at all.

“She does not deserve such a life, Sir. Please. Not my sister,” he answered after a few moments, looking slightly pale after hearing everything Tetsuya had to say.

“And you think you do? Besides, you did not answer my question,” Tetsuya pried further. Hideto closed his eyes, struggling with an answer.

“No, but... better me than her,” he finally whispered, and looked up afterwards to look the taller man in the eyes again, “I am ready for whatever it takes, Sir,” he spoke as determinedly as could be expected, and Tetsuya nodded to himself again.

The boy probably was not ready, despite everything he said. But his sister would be no better, and Tetsuya could understand the boy's wish to protect her – he had two sisters himself, even though he hadn't seen them in ages. Maybe the sob story had affected him more than he cared to admit after all...

His decision had been made, Tetsuya realized. It had been ever since he saw the boy – he never would have spent so much time on him, if he hadn't already wished to buy him. And he was being slightly reckless, maybe, but all the things that would have deterred every single other slaver just made it more challenging and interesting for Tetsuya. He wanted to test himself. He wanted to see if he was capable of taming this boy to the same level that he did all his slaves.

“Start the paperwork,” he said, turning to the seller, who had been silent while his customer talked to his merchandise, “I am buying him.”

After hearing those words, Hideto's face twisted as he was very obviously torn between rejoicing, and starting to cry (or maybe be sick) as the realization that he was truly about to become a slave hit him. In the end, he managed to compose himself somehow, and opened his mouth to say something.

“Do not thank me,” Tetsuya interrupted him before he could start absent-mindedly, “It will save you the trouble of regretting it later on. And you _will_ regret it,” he promised seriously. Hideto just grimaced again and frowned, his features setting in an expression of determination.

“Thank you,” he said as if on purpose, and Tetsuya almost laughed out loud. If that was not pure rebelliousness already, then he did not know what was.

Was he going to regret doing this later? Very possible. But he had made up his mind, and his pride won't let him back down now. Soon, he was sitting down and signing the paperwork that made a previously free-man his complete and absolute property.

And, as he scribbled “Hyde” in the slot asking for the purchase's new name after considering it for a bit, he was actually quite looking forward to this. But he won't be getting a second slave today after all. The one he just bought sounded like he'd be enough of a handful for a while.


	3. Chapter 3

Hideto's heart was still beating fast, and his mind was still awash with thoughts and emotions, while he followed his new... owner through the streets of the town (to his new home, he supposed). He still felt dazed or like all of this had only been a dream. Ever since yesterday's morning, he felt sort of distanced from what was happening to him. He barely reacted when the men had torn his clothes off of him, when they dosed him with cold water to “wash him” or when they threw his new attire at him, making him put it on.

He had woken up from that daze slightly once the men had turned him over to the man that was supposed to sell him, and he was led into the Slave Market and put on display. He had never been there before, so at first he was looking around a lot, taking everything in. And then once the first customer had come looking at him, he did everything he could to make them buy him: he tried making eye contact, he even tried to look seductive after observing how other slaves did it (though he felt utterly ridiculous doing so), just because he knew he had to get someone to buy him no matter what if he wanted to save his sister. But that enthusiasm evaporated quickly after the first day had passed, and every potential buyer got scared off the moment they heard his price. When Hideto was returned to the Market the next day, he had already lost hope and stood on display almost lifelessly, just praying to every god he could think of for someone to get interested in him enough.

And then, this man came. Carefully, Hideto raised his eyes from the ground as he walked and shyly looked at the back of the man that was now leading him by the rope that tied his wrists in front of him. He still didn't even know the man's name. He only knew he now belonged to him, completely.

The moment he heard the voice asking a question about him, Hideto's heart jumped to his throat. He had almost no longer been expecting anyone to show any interest in him at all anymore, but his hopes rose very fast once he saw this man for some reason. He looked quite young, and was actually really handsome – both these things not that common at all among the other men that had paid him some attention before. He also had a very intense look while he had been inspecting him (and Hideto almost blushed again when he remembered how casually the man had checked his private parts) and something about him had made Hideto feel that this might be the one.

And his instincts had been right. Not even halfway through his second day in the Market, Hideto had been sold into slavery. His sister was now free. He, on the other hand - everything but that. 

The man hadn't spoken again since the paperwork was finished and he led his new purchase out into the streets. Hideto felt incredibly self-conscious as he was led through the familiar to him places as an obvious slave, but noone spared him a second glance. He was just another slave being led by its Master, and everyone was used to seeing that here. Still, he felt uncomfortable, so he mostly kept his head down and kept to himself until he man leading him unexpectedly stopped and he almost ran into him.

“We're here,” Hideto heard his owner explain and lifted his head to look where they stopped at. In front of him was a beautiful, two-floor house (more of a mansion actually) with white walls, big windows, and a bright red roof, surrounded by a small, well kept garden. It looked quite expensive, and Hideto found himself wondering if slave training truly paid that well, but then shook the thought off as it was none of his business. This, apparently, was his new home for a while, and he better got used to it quickly.

“It's beautiful,” he whispered, as it seemed the other man had been waiting for some kind of reaction and nodded once Hideto spoke, leading them past the low fence and across the garden.

“I'm glad you like it. One of your duties will from now on will be to make sure the house is in good condition and do the chores – gardening, cleaning, cooking... You will share those duties with the other slaves and should ask them for help if you ever find yourself not knowing something. It is very important that you're good at those menial tasks as a slave. There are all sorts of skills that your future Master will expect from you, other than the obvious, and your day-time training will mostly focus on that,” the man explained as he led them inside and into the house, finally. Though he knew very well there were far more fancy homes owned by nobles, to Hideto the interior looked almost overwhelmingly luxurious compared to his tiny place he had shared with his family. He was looking around wide-eyed, so he almost lost his balance once his owner continued further in, still holding the other end of the rope.

He was led into what seemed to be the living room and stood, still slightly awed, completely still for a while until the other man suddenly approached him. At first Hideto was confused, but then he felt the man undoing the rope tying his hands together and even gestured for him to sit on the couch. A bit apprehensively, and incredibly afraid of dirtying or damaging some of that expensive-looking furniture, Hideto carefully sat down and awkwardly twisted his hands in his lap, waiting for what was going to happen next. He truly didn't know what to expect – he had even thought he would be made to sit on the floor, like a slave, rather than on the comfortable furniture. But maybe that was not how things worked after all...

“Do you read?” The other man asked him suddenly, sitting down on an armchair facing the couch Hideto sat on.

“Huh?” the boy asked, not quite understanding the question. Did he read? Like, books? He never had any free time to do that on the farm, and they only had a couple of books at home, so...

“Do you know how to read?” The other man reiterated the question, and Hideto blushed, a little embarrassed for not understanding it immediately.

“Yes, Sir,” he answered quickly, “We never went to school, but our parents taught us the basics, so I know the letters, can read and write. I even know a little bit about counting,” he explained quickly and quietly, and the other nodded, seemingly pleased.

“One can never know these things, with how little people pay attention to education of the little folk lately. Here, these are the papers I signed when I bought you today,” he explained, and threw a small roll of parchment at the petite man, who caught it awkwardly, “Read it. Out loud.”

Hideto stared at the paper in his hands first, then at his “owner” and then back again, not quite understanding the purpose of the order. Maybe this was a test, to see if he would obey even when he could not understand? Figuring that had to be the case, Hideto unrolled the paper with trembling hands and started reading, slowly, as he was not really that good at it.

“This legally binding document denotes that one Tetsuya Ogawa, henceforth referred to as 'owner',” Hideto's voice trembled a little as he read the name, finally getting to know who was the person that bought him as this couldn't possibly mean anyone else, “has purchased and gained every right to one Hideto Takarai, henceforth referred to as 'slave', and gives him the name of Hyde...”

Hideto's voice trailed off at that. Not only was it upsetting to read himself be officially called a slave, but... Hyde? What did this even mean? He looked up at... Tetsuya, questioningly.

“I'll answer any questions you might have after you're done,” the man said strictly, “Read the whole thing first.”

Still very confused, but having no choice but obey, Hideto did as told and continued reading. Most of it was just legal gibberish to him, going right over his head as far as specifics went, but some parts... some parts were...

“ _...enters permanent servitude, noted in the international registry of sub-human resources...”_

“ _...lack of human rights and the complete obedience...”_

“ _...gains the exclusive and unconditional rights to do everything with the obtained property, with the sole exceptions of killing and mutilating...”_

The more he read, the better Hideto understood why Tetsuya made him read this. Seeing it all written down, black on white, as undeniable and dry facts made it all so much more real. So inescapably real. It drove all that happened home, finally, and by the end of the not too long document that decided his life and classified him as a thing rather than person, the boy was trembling all over and had tears in his eyes, threatening to escape. After reading the last words out, Hideto let the paper fall from his hands and buried his face in his hands. He wouldn't be able to do this... How could anyone really expect a person become... He was not going to be able to...

“You can do it,” came the other man's voice suddenly, startling Hideto whose head immediately shot up to stare at the man that was supposed to guide him into his new life. Had he been talking out loud, perhaps? Or was it so obvious what thoughts overcame the new slave to the experienced slave maker? 

“I needed you to read that so you could truly understand what is going to happen, and I know it is overwhelming you very much right now. For someone who never thought they'd be anything but free it is a lot to take in.”

The man suddenly leaned forward and reached out towards Hideto, making the young man flinch back. But apparently Tetsuya only wanted to pick up the document again, and stood up after grasping it. As he spoke further, he went to a huge cabinet in the corner of the room, opening one of its small doors to reveal a safe there, which he opened to store the document in and then locked it again.

“But everyone manages, no matter what background they come from. It just takes time and effort. And you might think “Why should I ever put effort into losing my own identity?” But believe me, you would only make it much harder and much more terrible for yourself if you didn't. As soon as you accept the right mentality, you will no longer think that everything is all so bad. A slave's life is actually an easy one. No decisions to make, no responsibilities other than obeying one's Master. Some might even say that it's actually more liberating than the life of a regular person, struggling from day to day, could ever be. And, depending on one's Master and their needs, it might also very well be filled with pleasure.”

“That's... not really comforting,” Hideto spoke, following his owner with his eyes once the man returned and retook his seat. Contrary to his own words, however, his tears had weirdly ceased and he had calmed down a bit.

“It was not supposed to be,” Tetsuya answered him dryly, “This is not time for comfort, this is time for accepting reality and for you to be told how things will go from now on, how this will work and what you should expect. And we should start, I think, from your new name then, Hyde,” Hideto winced noticeably at hearing the still-unfamiliar name, but the other man ignored it, “You looked very confused and surprised when you read you are being given another name. So tell me, now that you had time for thought, why do _you_ think it was done?”

“Because,” Hideto took a deep breath and looked away, “I don't deserve to have my whole name anymore, as a slave?” he half stated, half-asked though at this point he was pretty convinced that had to be the reason.

“No,” the other answered, however, and Hideto was honestly surprised enough to look back again, “It is not about you deserving or not deserving anything. In fact, as a slave, you are insignificant enough that noone is every going to bother doing something, or taking something away from you just because you might not deserve it. From now on, nothing is about you. Everything is only done for the convenience or pleasure of your Master. And people usually want their slaves to have short, simple names they could quickly call them by, if they bothered at all. Do you understand what I am saying?” the older man asked, and the boy found himself nodding. Somehow, this explanation was much worse than the one he had thought to be true.

“Good,” Tetsuya continued, “This is only the first time you experience this, but we do bring it up quickly so you can hopefully get used to expect it from early on. And you can start getting used to your new name this way already as well. Forget about Hideto Takarai. He does not exist anymore, and never will. Noone is allowed to call you by that anymore, and I strongly suggest try to call yourself Hyde as well, even in your thoughts. This is the biggest, and maybe even only advice I can give you to make it easier on yourself. The sooner you accept it all, and won't try to hide away in your thoughts, the better you'll be able to deal with everything else. If you keep hold of the thoughts that this is unfair, or that you want to remain yourself, you will only go insane with time. Got it? This is not a Slave trainer talking to make things easier for himself. This is something I know from experience to be the best advice I can give you now.”

Hideto nodded in response, but inside his mind he was not sure he could actually ever take the advice. In general, what Tetsuya was telling him to do was to just give up on himself, wasn't it? To, even in his mind, already think like a slave, like someone who only exists to please someone else. And it was.... right now, it even seemed completely impossible to him. To... Hyde. He could maybe imagine doing it for a short period of time, a bit like playing make-believe, but to do it all the time, permanently?

“Of course this won't work overnight, but as long as you try, at least, you'll realize it's making things better,” Tetsuya remarked again, before shifting a little in his seat, “Now, let's move on a little and talk about how your training will work. Today and tomorrow will be still a bit different from usual, as you need to get used to things first. I will take you to a tailor, for one, to get your measurements and get you some clothes, also maybe to a shop to get you some necessities as well as to a place where you will receive your slave mark. You'll also get familiarized with the house, meet the other people that live here, that is, the two other slaves in training right now and somebody that works for me as a helper or, well, an assistant if you will, and who will play a major role in your training as well. Your room should be ready by now as well. However, after tomorrow, we will start a routine. For each day, you will have a very detailed schedule of what and where you are supposed to do. In the beginning it will be mostly housework, but in time you will go out into the city to work at various jobs as well, in places I have agreements with, because as I said a wide variety of skills is required from slaves, and you will get the experience you need in those places. You will be expected to complete that schedule word for word and minute for minute. That will make up your daytime training for the length of your stay here.”

“Nighttime is a another matter altogether,” the man continued explaining while Hideto listened as attentively as he could, thinking that it all didn't sound all that bad for now, “Nights will be reserved for, to put it bluntly, sex education. As you are no doubt aware, the biggest part of your duties to your Master will be in the bedroom, and you'll have to learn how to best please anyone in a lot of ways. And there is no better way to learn it than by practising.”

Hideto found himself gulping a little at that, though he had, of course, expected it.

“Will you be the one to... uhm.... “ He choked on his words, not really able to say the question out loud.

“Dirty talk is one of the skills you'll have to acquire as well, you know,” Tetsuya commented, sounding a little amused, “But yes, I will mostly be the one in charge of the training. However, as I have already mentioned, you're not the only slave here now. Some nights you'll just be left to rest, yes, but on others when I won't be able to make it, my uhm... helper might step in instead. Other times, you will have joined training with the other slaves as well. But of course, that will only be well into the future. I won't just throw you in the middle of things and expect you to cope immediately. We'll go slow – well, as slow as we can – and even actual sex in general won't come before you're more or less comfortable with it. I'm not a bad slave trainer, Hyde, I know what I'm doing so I know how best to integrate you into your new life. You'll have to trust me, that's all.”

Hideto nodded again, swallowing with difficulty, still finding his new name weird and not quite knowing what to make of Tetsuya's words. Of course, he had no choice but to trust that the man knew what he was doing, but somehow he had a feeling that was not all his owner meant.

“Do you have any questions right now?” Tetsuya then asked, and Hideto shook his head.

“My mind is just a big mess,” he explained, and the other nodded knowingly.

“That's fine. I will lead you into your room now and leave you there to rest for a few hours. After that, I'll come by again to introduce you to others. And if you'll have any questions formed by then, you'll be able to ask.”


	4. Chapter 4

Hideto's room, as it turned out, had been occupied by some other girl up until a day ago or so when she had been sold. The boy didn't know how he felt about that, but the room had apparently been completely vacated and left absolutely bare of any personal belongings. Tetsuya also explained that it had been cleaned thoroughly after the other slave's departure to make it ready for its new occupant which, of course, was Hideto... or, rather, Hyde.

It was not a very big room. Other than the huge, queen-sized bed in the middle of it with a tiny nightstand, a wardrobe by one of the walls and a small table with some drawers and a mirror, there was no other furniture in it, and, honestly, no _space_ for any other furniture unless one wanted the room to be cluttered up.

The sparsity of personal touch of the room would have made it feel cold for anyone else, probably, but Hideto felt comfortable. He was truly used to not having many personal belongings and the bed alone already seemed like true luxury for him, compared to his own small twin-size with a squeaky spring box at home. And it was so clean and pretty in there. The floor was made of some kind of smooth, light-coloured wood and had a rather fuzzy woollen carpet on it. And it was blue, to match the walls and the bedding – his favourite colour.

Hideto was surprised to notice it, but the view of the room somehow truly helped him relax and feel better about his situation. Of course the reality of what was expected from him by the end of his stay there still weighed heavily on his mind but... right now, he was at least glad the he would stay in this beautiful house, with a slave trainer that actually seemed as nice as could be expected, who promised to help him deal with everything and ease him into things slowly. And he could not let himself forget that at least this meant his sister was free, and who knows – if Tetsuya hadn't found him and Gina ended up being sold after all, she might have not been so lucky with her buyers, ending up with someone far less nice and far more rough.

No matter how he looked at it, Hideto knew it was better this way. It was the best outcome he could have ever expected.

After showing him his room, Tetsuya then directed him to the shower, giving him a towel and some clean clothes to change into afterwards and instructions to rest up in his room until he was called for later in the evening. Hideto gladly shed the clothes he had been made to wear in the market that barely covered anything at all and put on the ones given to him after taking a thorough shower. Obviously, they were far too big on him, hanging off his petite figure loosely, but they were soft, and smelled nice, and were comfortable enough that he even curled up in his bed with them, deciding to take his owner's instructions literally and rest in the few hours he'd been given to himself, maybe even take a nap.

But of course, with his mind still buzzing with conflicting thoughts, his blood rushing with adrenaline and the day in general overwhelming him still, he was just too restless to fall asleep quickly. He had so many things to think over, so many facts to accept. Only a couple of days ago he had never thought he would ever belong to someone, and now here he was, with an official owner. His... Master, he supposed. Tetsuya had not yet told him how he expected to be addressed by him, but Hideto could imagine it would be something like that. Master, or Sir maybe since he wasn't told to stop using that when he did through the whole conversation before. Maybe Tetsuya-sama.

Of course, being from such a poor family, Hideto was already slightly used to being subservient to others. The man that owned the farm they worked in, for example – he had never met him, but everyone always talked about him only as Kurimoto-sama, so Hideto did too. Sometimes the other workers even joked about how the landlord actually owned them all as well, but those were always just jokes. They were dependant on the work the man gave them, but they were free to quit if they so desired.

Now, Hideto wouldn't be able to quit. He wouldn't be able to do anything at all, even, without approval. He belonged to somebody completely, and it was no joke. It was written, black on white, and there was no escaping it. In this society he was now only sub-human, and he would never change his status back to human again. No matter where he went, what country, what city, his name would always be in the slave registry and he would simply not be able to live without his Master. Nobody would give him work - only his owner would be able to hire him out. There was no use in trying to run away.

And so Hyde had to accept it, the faster the better. Yes, _Hyde_ , because the boy now could understand why Tetsuya told him to accept the name immediately, even in his thoughts. He had to forget about his previous life, and no matter the real reasons why he had been given his new name, he could now see another side to it. This was supposed to help him. If he no longer thought about himself as Hideto, then he would stop being him.

“My name is Hyde,” he whispered to himself fervently, the words seeming so loud in he empty room, “My name is Hyde. I am Hyde,” he repeated again and again, ignoring the tear that rolled down his cheek as he forced himself to accept his own words. He was Hyde, and it was a short, easy name, just like it was supposed to be. And with time, everything about him would become exactly as it was supposed to be, so he would be perfect for someone's tastes. And he would submit to becoming that person, because protesting was useless. And he would start craving to please people, because that was the only way he would be able to live. And he would accept as deeply as he could that he was truly a slave and nothing more, and he would believe it whole-heartedly...

These thoughts and others, similar to them, circled frantically in Hyde's brain and in time finally became what lulled him into sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

It was only when a knock on his door woke him that Hideto realized just how much he had needed the nap. After the traumatic experience of getting torn away from his sister so suddenly, standing in display in the Market for over a day and then finally being sold as a slave, he had yet to have enough time to get some restful sleep even once, and he had been exhausted. Of course, the few hours of sleep did not mean he completely recovered from that either, but they definitely helped.

The knock on his door had been accompanied by a soft female voice saying it was dinner time, and as he rose from his dreams for a moment he even thought it was his sister talking to him. But then the girl continued saying telling him that “Master Tetsu was expecting him to attend” and the illusion dispersed immediately, making Hideto jolt from his sleep and sit up in his bed. The girl (who he now assumed had been one of the other two slaves that his buyer had mentioned) left after delivering her message without entering his room, and he was left alone to get ready. Not that there was much to do, but somehow, Hideto felt hyper-aware of his appearance now, probably because he knew he would be meeting more people. He got up and walked to the big mirror on the wardrobe door, and quickly ran his fingers through his still a little damp, shoulder-length hair, trying to make it behave a little better though he didn't have a brush to help him.

Now that he actually looked at his reflection, he had to admit his far too large clothes did look ridiculous on him, but there was absolutely nothing he could do other than try to neatly roll up the sleeves of the shirt a bit, as well as his pants, until he was confident he would be able to walk without tripping over them at least. Once that was done, he decided he took enough time already as it was, considering he girl hadn't told him how quickly the dinner would be starting, and carefully left his room.

He hadn't been shown where the kitchen and/or dining room was situated, but he followed the scents and the sounds of cutlery until he found himself in a very well lit room, courtesy of the sunlight coming through the multiple huge windows, with a quite large table in the centre of it, already prepared for the meal. There was another door leading from this room that had to lead into the kitchen, Hideto guessed, as most of the noise as well as the incredible smells were coming from there. However, the boy assumed he was supposed to have come to _this_ room as there were two people already sitting at the table. There was no sight of Tetsuya, but there was a rather pretty girl sitting on one of the chairs, looking and smiling at him gently, as well as a very skinny, but somehow very muscular at the same time man who was concentrated on reading some papers he had in his hands and had obviously yet to notice the new arrival.

Hideto fidgeted on his feet for a second, not quite knowing if he was supposed to say something to greet the man, but soon the problem was taken care of for him. The boy blushed a little when his stomach growled quite audibly, as the scents suddenly reminded him how incredibly hungry he was, and it was apparently loud enough to be heard by the stranger. The man suddenly lifted his eyes away from his papers and looked at him, looking surprised for a moment and then his expression turned into a small frown while he obviously looked the petite man before him over.

“You must be the one Tetsu bought today,” he commented then, his voice sounding very pleasant and kind to Hideto, making the boy relax slightly, “What is your name, boy?” he asked calmly, and Hideto hurried to respond, wanting to make as good an impression as he could.

“I am Hi... Hyde, Sir,” he corrected himself mid-word, fortunately catching his mistake before he made it. Or so he thought.

“You're Hihyde?” the man asked (or rather teased) with amusement, and Hi... _Hyde_ blushed even more brightly.

“I am Hyde, Sir,” he corrected himself more properly, “I am still not quite used to it, Sir, I am sorry,” he explained, somehow assuming the man didn't need to be told what “it” was, and his assumption was confirmed when the man nodded.

“How old are you, Hyde?” The man asked his next question, and Hyde blinked in slight surprise.

“I turned thirteen this summer, Sir,” he answered quickly again. He was still very young, but he knew that a lot of slaves were first sold as soon as they hit puberty, which was often even earlier than thirteen, so he did not really expect his age to be surprising at all. Besides, with the life he was born to, working in the fields almost as soon as he could stand, he had grown up very quickly. For people as poor as his family had been, childhood in general was a commodity they couldn't really afford. Everyone always told him what a mature young man he was. And he did consider himself a man, by now, not just a boy.

Then again, the girl sitting at the table (who he again, assumed, to be one of the slaves) looked older than him, possibly fifteen or even sixteen.

“Very young then. Might even be a first for us, and then of course, male as well... Trying out new things, aren't we?” The man commented weirdly, and Hyde felt flustered for half a second as he didn't know what the man expected to hear from him in response, before he noticed that the stranger was no longer looking at him, but at someone behind him, obviously addressing the question to someone else. He looked over his shoulder just in time to realize Tetsuya had followed him into the room at some point before the man spoke up.

“Nothing bad with that,” the tall (at least compared to Hyde) man said, soon stepping past the boy and into the room, taking a seat at the head of the table casually. The girl shot up when he passed her, bowing a little respectfully, before re-taking her seat, “The world is changing, boys are becoming more popular, we need to keep up. I never truly paid that much attention to age, it was just about someone catching my eye in the market, and _he_ did this time. As for the gender... you don't mind, do you?” he finished with a question and the still-unfamiliar man shook his head with a beautiful smile.

“I don't have any issues with him at all, Tetsu-kun, I was just making some observations. It will be interesting,” he answered while Hyde still just listened to everyone quietly. Tetsuya chuckled.

“That was actually exactly what I was thinking when I decided to get him,” he suddenly looked up towards Hyde, and Hyde felt startled as he had felt like he had been pretty much forgotten while the men talked and thus did not expect this, “Come sit close to me, Hyde. The dinner will be served soon,” he indicated the chair on his left, since the other man sat at his right, and Hyde timidly did as told, “Have you even introduced yourself, Yukki?” he suddenly spoke to the other man again, and once he shook his head, continued, “Well then, Hyde, this is Yukihiro. He's the assistant that I have mentioned before, although the title doesn't give him justice – he's much more than that. In any case, you should treat him with as much respect as you show me.”

“Yes, Sir. Nice to meet you, Yukihiro-sama,” Hyde responded as politely as he could, bowing his head a little at the man as he spoke.

“Now, sitting beside you is Tia who, as you, no doubt realize, is your senior here. She and May, who is responsible for dinner tonight, will help you get the hang of things a lot in the beginning,” he continued, and just as Hyde was about to say something to greet the girl, another came from the doorway that Hyde had eyed earlier, carrying two covered trays in each of her hands, “Ah, and here is May now,” Tetsuya said with a smile as the girl came to the table and put the trays onto it, “Girls, this is Hyde, a new trainee. From the day after tomorrow he will frequently join you in your duties so he can watch and learn, and later on help out,” he introduced pleasantly, and Hyde mustered up a small smile having turned his face towards both of the pretty girls.

“I will depend on your guidance,” he spoke politely, and both of the two girls smiled at him brightly in response, but, weirdly, neither _said_ anything. It confused Hyde for a moment, especially when the second girl, whose name was apparently May, simply turned and continued with her work, uncovering the trays to reveal incredibly delicious looking, hot food. But then he realized he won't get an explanation, and it truly didn't seem like he had offended the girls somehow, so he took it as just something that he didn't know about yet and decided to ignore it.

He turned to the table again then and was overwhelmed for a moment again. He felt like he'd never seen this much food in one place before, and certainly not such... fancy food. There was some kind of fish... and then at least three kinds of salads, and soup and... Hyde didn't know the names of _any_ of those things. And then May came back, with... warm wet towels, it seemed, rolled up on plates, and everyone was getting some kind of white cloth over their laps, and Hyde just kept looking around, feeling lost and not knowing if he was allowed to ask... or even what he would ask first. Maybe about the three different forks beside his plate, wasn't one enough? At home, everyone always ate with chopsticks anyway...

“A bit lost, little one?” Hyde was startled out of his thoughts and his head shot up to look at the man sitting opposite of him. Yukihiro was smiling at him kindly, his plate now filled with some food, and he seemed like he stopped mid-motion, just to ask Hyde the question, his attention completely focused on the boy. For some reason, it made Hyde incredibly self conscious but also oddly honoured. He blushed and looked down onto his lap.

“I partly expected that... since I'm a slave... I would be expected to eat leftovers. On the floor. From a bowl. Or something. And now,” he faltered a little, looking all over the food before him again, “I never ate this well before in my life, and I probably will end up not eating now either, because I don't know what most of this stuff,” he pointed at all the different cutlery, “is _for_!”

Once he had started speaking, he didn't even notice as his voice got a bit louder and his emotions got through more clearly, and by the end he was almost crying again simply because all of it burst out so suddenly from him. But then he looked up again, and Yukihiro was still smiling such a kind smile at him that he suddenly calmed down again.

“Well, first of all,” surprisingly, it was Tetsuya that spoke up to answer him, not the man that asked the question in the first place, and Hyde snapped his head to look at him and to his surprise saw that Tetsuya was looking at him just as gently, “I cannot promise you that it will be the same all the time. When you're with your actual Master, he might end up treating you exactly as you said you expected to be treated _here_. And during our training, we'll address that as well, since you have to be used to everything. However, even if that happens, you will still be expected to at least _know_ how to eat in official occasions, if for no other reason than to know how to serve the food right. We'll sign you up for some etiquette lessons quite early on. Second of all, that is the irony of becoming a slave. For many, that means actually starting to live in conditions they could only have dreamt of during their old lives. As I told you before, it _is_ a much easier life. Many end up enjoying it and even become thankful for it. But it does mean giving up your free will.”

“And finally,” Yukihiro took over then, “For tonight, and the next few evenings, just try to copy what others are doing. Look at May,” he indicated, as the girl chose that moment to come into the room and sit down after, apparently, finally being finished with serving them, “or anyone else, really, it's fine to stare. And if you can't keep up with everything even then, it's fine to just eat as you want as well. As long as you're not shovelling food into your mouth with your bare hands, nobody here will get offended or angry. It's okay.”

Hyde nodded then, to show he understood, but inside he felt overwhelmed again. Everyone was being so nice to him. But then again, he also knew he was a slave, and the harsh parts of it that he had learned of today were still looming over him as well, and he just didn't know how he was supposed to feel anymore. But then May moved and, not wanting to be left behind and miss something important, he looked at what she was doing, pushing all thoughts away for now. He was so so hungry. So he copied her when she reached for the wet towel (which was apparently just there to clean their hands with) or put the white cloth over her lap, and continued to do the exact same as the girl further, finally starting to eat the food that almost made him moan from how delicious it was.

And apparently, it really was okay. It was okay to stare, it was okay when he mixed some forks up, and it was okay to eat as much as he wanted and even to take seconds. He didn't have to feel guilty for eating as much as he did, or to wonder if they'll have any food next week.

He found himself wishing he could bring his sister some of it. Or that she were simply here, able to enjoy the same things he did. And then he found himself wondering if he truly did the right thing “saving” her from this luxury. But then he caught the ridiculous thought and pushed it away. He would still rather be back at their tiny home eating a handful of bland rice, but free and with his beloved sister than enjoy all of this, but knowing he was a slave and would soon be doing everything he could just to please some person that paid for him in gold coins and thought him to be lower than himself. And he was sure his sister thought the same.

The thoughts did curb his eagerness to eat, however, and he slowed down noticeably with time, soon noticing he was getting quite full already anyway. He _did_ still try the dessert though, barely remembering the last time he had proper sweets, and of course remembered to thank for the meal once he was finished. Only he didn't know what he was supposed to do next, so he just continued sitting on his chair quietly for a while longer, waiting for all others to finish as well so that hopefully someone would tell him what was expected of him now.

“Tia, help May with cleaning up,” Tetsuya said sort of absent-mindedly once he and all the others caught up with Hyde who _had_ , after all, eaten very fast and rather greedily in the beginning. 

“Yes, Master,” the girl answered and soon stood up with the other one, starting to gather up the dishes. Now that he finally heard and saw her talk, Hyde could recognize that she had to be the one to call him to dinner, which made sense since May must have been busy preparing all this food, “Now come with me, Hyde, a few more things I need to show you,” the man then spoke to him, and Hyde hurriedly got up as well, bowing his head slightly to Yukihiro when he went away and followed him through the door.

“You've been to the dining room and the living room already, and you saw where the kitchen is,” the man talked while they walked into the grand foyer, where there was a huge staircase in the centre of it, leading up to the second floor, “The only places you still don't know on the first floor are down this corridor behind the stairs. On the right side of it, the first door leads to Yukki's room, the second – to mine. Remember that, because at some point you will be asked to just go there during the night instead of staying in your room, waiting for us. On the left, the door leads to the main bathroom and sauna. Finally, at the end of it there is the door to the veranda and the back garden. Then, on the second floor, aside from your own room and the two bathrooms I showed you before there are four more rooms, either May's or Tia's or unoccupied for now. There is also the cellar, but it has a separate entrance from outside. That's all as far as the house goes, but I brought you over here now to show you this,” he gestured to one of the walls in the foyer, leading them closer to what looked a bit like a notice board, with something pinned on it. Hyde looked at it curiously once they got close and saw slips of paper with “Tia” and “May” written on them, and then two sheets of paper below each of them.

“I mentioned to you that you'd be given a schedule for each day, and this is where it will be,” Tetsuya started explaining, “We usually make them for a whole week for everyone, so you can know what to expect, more or less, but there might be changes made at any time if there is a need. However, it won't change anymore after the morning of that day comes. Also, note that night plans are almost never written. Sometimes, there might be a note for someone if there's is something special planned, but only rarely. Also, if you see that you have a lot of free time left for you during the day, you can take it probably means you should rest, because there will be a long night ahead. Is everything clear so far?”

Hyde had been listening as attentively as he could, since he did not want to miss something that was, most likely, incredibly important, and he nodded hastily in response. It seemed simple enough. He'd just have to make sure to read it right every morning and do what it said. 

“Yes, Sir.”

“Okay,” Tetsuya approved, pointing at the second set of papers on the board, “Then the other thing which is just as important. There is a set of basic rules that slaves have to follow,” he explained and Hyde winced. No matter what, when the s-word was mentioned outright, his heart still gave an unpleasant lurch. But he continued listening, trying to ignore it, “They cover the main aspects of your duties and life in general. Rules concerning how you're supposed speak, how to act, defining the limits of your freedom and so on. As you get used to living here, those rules will keep gtting adjusted for you until you're exactly as a well-trained slave is supposed to be. For example, for now, you are still allowed to speak with anyone and at any time. You are also allowed to just call me Sir, or Tetsu-san. Same with Yukki.”

Hyde quickly glanced through both the girls' rule lists and noticed that the “Speech” rule for both of them read: “Only when prompted/asked something by someone of higher status. Also free to speak when noone of higher status is in the same room.” Which, he supposed, explained very well why they hadn't answered him when he greeted them. He was of the same status as them, after all. Maybe even lower, actually, considering he was not trained at all yet. They were his seniors.

In the meantime, Tetsuya still continued.

“Your rules have yet to be written up, of course, but they should be there by tomorrow morning. Yukihiro is working on them right now. They will be hung up here as well, and note that there's a reason why they're here beside your schedule. It's so you would look at them each day as well, first – to see if anything changed, and also – so you would repeat them to yourself each morning and memorize them better. As far as today goes, though, you're actually done,” Tetsuya finished unexpectedly, smiling down at the startled boy, “Usually, we always eat dinner together, and then you have some free time during which you can do what you want – within the rules of course – or finish up your extra tasks. And I do have one of those for you today. Go to the living-room. I don't know if you noticed, but there are a few bookshelves there. Find one called “Table Etiquette” by Laura Atkins, if I'm not much mistaken. Read it at your speed, learn what you can. You can go now,” he dismissed the slave then, gesturing towards the right side of the house, and Hyde nodded and started walking towards it. He was already opening the door when he heard his owners voice calling out to him again.

“By the way, Hyde. There is one more rule in particular that you might find interesting right now. The one concerning communication with any remaining family,” the boy rapidly turned around to stare at the taller man again, his heart suddenly beating impossibly fast and hard against his ribcage, “For you, it is allowed, at least for now. Only mail, since visits might be hard to arrange and phone-calls are deemed to be too distracting, but still. You can find some paper, pens and envelopes in the cabinet in the living-room,” he said, and then turned around and left heading for his room, leaving Hyde with a gaping mouth.


	6. Chapter 6

When he had been snatched away from his home, leaving his sister on the floor, crying in despair, Hyde had truly thought that that would be the last time he ever saw or heard from her. That's what slavery meant to him: he thought he would be pretty much kept in a cage and would never see anyone but his Master, whoever that would be, again. But ever since Tetsuya bought him, he found out more and more how wrong that was after all, about so many different things. However, being allowed to write his sister was by far the biggest shock he had received.

Only, once he got over his initial shock and almost ran back to his room after getting everything he was supposed to from the living room, he sat down intending to write a letter to her immediately, but realized he didn't know what to say.

_Hi. I'm fine. The dinner was delicious. My new Master said he won't have sex with me right away, and he also allowed me to write you. Miss you lots._

That hardly sounded right.

Not only was it hard to put everything he went through in such short time into words, but he also didn't know how much he _should_ say. And then, Tetsuya also said he was allowed to write his sister _for now_ , which probably meant he'd have to stop at some point. If not here, then when he was sold again, his new Master probably won't bother at all. And Hyde didn't know how he would be able to say goodbye to his sister then. Maybe it was not even worth the heartbreak to restart the contact only to end it at some point again.

Only of course it was. He was sure his sister was worried as hell, and it truly wasn't as bad as they both expected it, and she deserved to be at least reassured of that.

But for now, he truly didn't know how or what to write, so after sitting in front of a blank paper for half an hour or so, Hyde finally decided to go and lie down on the bed, turn on the light on the night-stand and started reading the book.

He had been oddly relieved when Tetsuya told him to get it. The experience at dinner tonight had been far more stressful than it could have been after all, and he was eager to learn everything that would help him get better at it in the future. So even though the book was boring and used very dry language, Hyde continued reading it for the rest of the evening, trying to remember as much as he could.

He didn't know how much time had passed with him carefully reading and re-reading every sentence, before suddenly, without a knock, his door was opened and Tetsuya stepped in. Hyde was so startled he almost dropped the book at first, then quickly put it away on purpose, and finally got worried because he didn't know if he was supposed to stand up, or maybe bow when his owner entered the room. Tetsuya didn't say anything to him about that, however, just quickly glanced around the room, his eyes lingering a bit on the empty sheet of paper that Hyde had left on the table, seemingly making his own conclusions about it, but not looking surprised at all.

“Sir?” Hyde finally spoke up, timidly, and Tetsuya finally looked at him again. His expression, which looked rather glum from the side in the low light of the small lamp, turned out to be just as gentle and calming as ever when the man faced him.

“You shouldn't close the door unless you're sleeping,” the older man noted softly, “Though you'll get to know all that when you read your rules tomorrow. I actually just came over to say two other things. First: lights-out is at 11 pm each night, if you don't have training. No exceptions. And you should always wake up at 7 am. The second thing is... The walls aren't completely sound-proof in this house. It shouldn't keep you up, but keep in mind, there are two others getting trained in this house now, and they're much further along than you. If you hear anything, don't worry about it and just ignore it. Okay?”

It took Hyde a moment longer than it maybe should have to realize what his owner was talking about, but when he did he immediately flushed very bright red. So... Tetsuya and maybe Yukihiro too would be... just a room or so over...

He gulped, still blushing incredibly, but forced himself to nod. Tetsuya must have found it amusing for some reason, for he chuckled a bit and stepped even closer, reaching out to cup Hyde's cheek which made the boy freeze a little, unable to predict the man's intentions. But Tetsuya only brushed his thumb over the reddened skin before letting go again.

“You might be rather mature for your age, and take a lot of things that would make others panic in stride, but you're so very innocent when it comes to matters of the body. That is so adorable and yet so tempting. It will be such a pleasure for me to introduce you to all that.”

Was it just Hyde, or did Tetsuya's smile turn into something more... raw and hungry suddenly? And was it just him, or was it getting hotter in the room with every second?

“And we should start, first of all, by getting you comfortable with your body,” Tetsuya continued, turning a little slyly thoughtful, “I don't have any fitting sleeping clothes to give you, but that is just as well. I'd like you to sleep naked, so you can get used to it bit by bit. Take those clothes off.”

 _'In front of you?!'_ Hyde wanted to protest, but knew that was ridiculous. Of course, Tetsuya owned him and Hyde would be naked before him sooner or later anyway, why not now? 

“Now?” he tried, instead, “It's only 10 pm, I wasn't going to sleep yet,” he said, self consciously tugging on the rolled up ends of his sleeves. But Tetsuya didn't even blink.

“You should, already. You had a long day, and another like that waiting for you tomorrow. You need to rest. Now do as I say,” he ordered more directly, and there was no room left for arguing anymore. A bit unwillingly and a lot shyly, Hyde put away the book onto the night-stand completely and slid off the bed onto the floor, standing up. Tetsuya obviously had no intention to look away even for a second, so Hyde screwed his own eyes shut tightly and as quickly and unthinkingly as he could, started undressing, first getting rid of the shirt, then of the pants. He wavered just a moment when it came to the underwear, but he knew Tetsuya would demand them to come off as well anyway, so he decided to just be done with it and quickly let them fall to his feet as well.

For a little after that, Hyde stood completely tense and taking deep breaths, eyes still squeezed shut. But after a few seconds passed with no reaction from Tetsuya, he carefully opened his eyes to find, surprisingly, Tetsuya was not staring at his naked body, but rather smiling again, looking at his face.

“Nothing happened, see?” the older man spoke calmingly then, “It wasn't that difficult at all. Those are just clothes, and this is your body, and you don't need to be embarrassed about it being looked at. It is absolutely beautiful.”

He did look down then, letting Hyde see how he looked him over very obviously, even stroking his bare side with his fingers at some point after stepping closer. Hyde shivered, but realized that he was no longer nearly as tense as he had been before. Somehow, the way Tetsuya acted now was just truly calming. Unlike in the Market, Hyde didn't feel like an exhibit on display, or an animal being measured up. Tetsuya's eyes showed honest appreciation of something he apparently found beautiful, and he didn't make this whole experience feel indecent or dirty either. Hyde still felt incredibly self-conscious, he still had to force himself to keep his hands away from trying to cover himself up a bit, and he would have loved to be allowed to dress again, after all. But he was somehow dealing with it. It made sense, he told himself. He had to get used to being naked, so why not sleep like this? Why not start from little things?

“Hmmm,” Tetsuya drew out, after at least a minute of staring at his new purchase. He even sounded mesmerized, and it seemed like he had trouble finally tearing his gaze away. Hyde flushed just a bit more again when their eyes met, “It's a good thing I don't lack distractions here. Otherwise, I don't know how I would force myself to leave you tonight,” he winked at Hyde, who looked away, not able to take the embarrassment anymore. He wasn't anything special, right? Some people have told him he was cute or pretty a few times, but it was just what everyone told kids, wasn't it?

But right now, Tetsuya made him feel special.

“Put your clothes away neatly,” Tetsuya ordered him casually then, stepping back, but thankful for some distraction Hyde rushed to do it as fast as possible, “As I told you before, we have a lot of business to take care of in the city tomorrow, so I'll be taking you there after breakfast. Which you should come down to eat at 7:30.”

Done with the clothes already, and taking Tetsuya's urging to go to sleep already as permission, Hyde went back to his bed and quickly slipped under covers, hiding his body under them and looking up.

“I'll make sure to do everything as told, Sir,” he whispered quietly, gripping the blankets tightly with his fingers, trying to hold himself back from asking for something “But...”

He was scared, alone, away from home and he felt so very lost. He missed his sister, even though it was only his second night away from her with thousands to follow. He was so overwhelmed with all that's been happening, with how suddenly his life got turned upside down. He desperately needed some comfort. And this man had been kind to him. Yes, he bought him, and he made no secret of the things he'll soon be doing to him, but he was nice, and Hyde thought he had behaved very well the whole day, so maybe...

“Yes, Hyde?” Tetsuya urged him when he didn't continue after a few moments of silence. Hyde looked up at the taller man for a bit, but then couldn't help but look to the side again before he decided it was worth a try at least.

“My sister,” he started, whispering barely audibly, “She always tucked me in and kissed me on the forehead before we went to sleep. And my mom always did it before her,” he explained, blushing, embarrassed for an entirely different reason now. He sounded like a kid, didn't he? It was a bad idea to tell this after all, he should have just let Tetsuya leave and slept...

Suddenly, there was a hand brushing his hair behind his ear and Hyde winced. The touch was so gentle, again.

“Just this once,” came the other's voice, “Lie down.”

Hyde smiled timidly, his heart beating a little faster again, and sunk down properly. but since he was still unable to make himself look up at the other man he just closed his eyes already. Soon, hands were carefully and quite thoroughly tucking him in, and after that was taken care of, Hyde felt someone coming close, and there were lips pressing against his forehead. They were different from his sister's, or his mother's. Just as soft, but maybe slightly bigger, or thicker, and somehow the feeling from the kiss itself wasn't the same. Less platonic, even though it was so small.

But none of it was in a bad way.

“Goodnight, Sir,” he whispered happily, smiling a little, his eyes still closed.

“Goodnight, Hideto,” came a soft answer and the boy could hear how the man turned the light off, walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving him to sleep finally. The familiar ritual, even if from another person, did make the petite man relax and he had little trouble sinking into sleep.

But not before with puzzlement he realized that Tetsuya had called him Hideto. But maybe it fit. 

_Goodnight, Hideto._

_Hyde will be the one to wake up tomorrow._


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reserve the right to add to the rules as time goes by and I think of them. Unfortunately, unlike Tetsuya, I didn't have years upon years to figure out what has to be included and just wrote them up as I wrote the chapter. I very well may have forgotten important things

When the morning came, Hyde was actually thankful Tetsuya had made him to go to sleep earlier. Even with the extra hour of sleep, he could barely force himself out of the bed when the alarm clock rang. But of course, he would never have dared to be late, not on his first real day there, so he quickly got up, collected his clothes and slipped into the bathroom to wash up before getting clothed. He had a full half-hour after getting up to get to the breakfast, and not much to do, but he still hurried because he had something planned himself. In particular, it was to go down to the foyer and check his own rules, because Tetsuya said they'd be ready by morning.

And they were. Almost hesitantly, Hyde approached the board that now had a fifth page hanging on it, as well as a slip of paper saying “Hyde”. Somehow, his rule list seemed longer than either Tia's or May's looked, but he guessed it was simply because he needed things explained more thoroughly for now. He hoped so at least. Taking a deep breath he started reading:

_ Speaking/communication: _

_Proper respect shown to anyone of higher status._

_Must address his trainers with “Sir” or “Tetsu-san/Yukihiro-san”_

_Must always respond when asked something or otherwise prompted by anyone of higher status._

_Can talk/ask questions without restrictions, unless specifically told to stay quiet._

_Can initiate conversation with other people while out in the city/at work._

_Can communicate with his sister (only letters)._

_May refer to himself in whatever manner he's comfortable with (usage of first person pronouns permitted)._

_ Behaviour _

_Lights out at 11 PM. Wake up at 7 AM._

_Dinner at 7 PM, together with everyone._

 

_Must never question/disobey orders, and must fulfil them as fast/accurately as he is capable of._

_Cannot leave the house/its premises on his own._

_Must never do something that would offend/show disrespect to someone of higher status._

_Must start trying not to look into the eyes/face of people of higher status._

_Bow when greeting people of higher status for the first time a day (stand up before bowing, if sitting when the person comes in)._

_Should never close doors behind himself (including the bathroom ones) or otherwise try to impede the trainer's access to him at any time in any way (does not apply for entrances/exits of houses or the door to his own room when about to sleep)._

_ Training _

_Must follow the training schedule prepared for him closely._

_Any lesson costs covered by Owner._

_Any pay received while working must be given to Owner immediately (but may receive pocket money from it afterwards)_

_Must put conscious effort into learning everything as efficiently as possible._

_Must put conscious effort into working as efficiently as possible and if needed do more than necessary without waiting to be asked (helpfulness is the key)_

_ Sex _

_Masturbation is strictly forbidden._

_Can only have sexual relations with people that a trainer instructs him to._

_Is encouraged to not restrain any sounds during sexual activities unless told otherwise._

  


It actually didn't sound too bad at all for now. Hyde understood very well that such relatively free rules won't stay unchanged for long. There was truly barely anything that Hyde wouldn't have done anyway, though the fact alone that those things were defined and limited by words now did affect him slightly. And of course, Hyde never would have actively thought about _some_ of the things. He had... never masturbated for example. He could roughly imagine how one would go about doing that, despite not having much knowledge about sex at _all_ , but he never felt tempted to experiment with it. He thought he was probably too young for it anyway and it was just that he always had worked at the farm a lot, every day, so all his energy was always directed elsewhere. Besides, he and his sister always shared a room, so he never had enough privacy to truly consider such activities.

He also would have never consciously thought about... how was it worded... restraining any sounds during sex? Honestly, that rule rather confused him as he wasn't quite sure what it meant. Was he supposed to make some specific sounds while they... did it? Once again, he only had a very rough understanding of how sex worked, so he could only hope he'd understand better once he reached the point where this rule was relevant. Not that he was eager to reach that point. Quite the opposite, in fact.

He had half a mind to check how his rules compared to the girls', since he only checked the one rule of theirs yesterday because he had been curious. But somehow that didn't feel right. He knew they were hung out for everyone to see here, so he had every right to read them, but it felt a bit like invading their privacy. He also didn't know if he wanted to know what things would be expected from him later on, which was why he didn't read their schedules either. And finally, he didn't read it because he got distracted.

There were voices coming from the side of the dining room, Tetsuya's and Yukihiro's. They were discussing something there already, although a quick glance at the clock confrmed there was at least ten more minutes left until breakfast time.

Normally, Hyde was truly not the eavesdropping kind. But the men were talking so loud it was hard _not_ to overhear, and that meant the boy heard his name being mentioned, which caught his attention even more and so he found himself walking up closer to the door and listening in to the conversation. Tetsuya hadn't said he wasn't allowed to come down earlier than the designated time, so if they were talking so loud about it, they couldn't possibly be worried that the subject of their discussion would overhear, Hyde reasoned. Which had to mean they shouldn't mind him listening to them in general.

“...heard about those guys before. His sister is not the only one they exploited, and it _is_ exploitation because they only go for the people that they know won't be able to return the money later,” Tetsuya was saying when Hyde came close enough to hear the conversation clearly, and the boy widened his eyes. Were they talking about the people that sold him? “I should go to the police and get them stopped before they put any more helpless common folk on the Market. What they're doing is against the law, and you can't disagree with it.”

“And I don't,” came Yukihiro's voice in response, “I'm just very doubtful anyone will put much effort into stopping it. They'd have to be caught in the act, and the police won't want to bother that much. They just don't care about the poor people. And those men are small nobles, you know, so...”

“Which _I_ am too,” Tetsuya pointed out, interrupting the other man.

“I _know_ , which is all the more reason for the police to think this is just some petty squabble between some small-fry nobles that bumped their heads over something,” the assistant replied, not missing a beat, “No offence intended.”

“None taken,” Tetsuya muttered, though he did sound a bit gruff, “I know I'm not a big deal here. But it does make me at least equal standing with those guys, so the police won't be able to let them go just because of their status, because I am no lower. I need to at least try. There's enough injustice in this country as it is. Some of it I can turn a blind eye upon, but this just disgusts me. It's not like there's a lack of available slaves.”

Hyde by now poked his head out of the doorway so he could see the two men talking. Neither of them were looking that way, however, so he was still left unnoticed. Tetsuya and Yukihiro were sitting in the same places as yesterday at the table, and both seemed very serious and concentrated on the conversation.

“True... Tetsu-kun, I completely understand your reasoning,” Yukihiro spoke up again then, his voice softening compared to earlier in the heat of discussion, “I agree what they're doing is terrible, don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing that at all. I just don't believe it is likely that you can do much about it. Either the police will nod at you, but then turn around and forget all about it, or you'll have to push and put a lot of effort into seeing it through. And you have just acquired a new slave, so you don't have enough time for that.”

Tetsuya frowned, as if taking the comment as a challenge.

“I'll see about that.”

Yukihiro sighed, hearing that, but his eyes looked fond as he looked at the other man. He apparently was used to Tetsuya's stubbornness and probably never even really thought he could talk Tetsuya out of his idea. There was soon even a small, sad smile dancing on his lips.

“This is a little uncharacteristic of you. It's like you're taking Hyde's story more deeply than usual. But Tetsu-kun, you know the thing about sad stories.”

This time, Tetsuya was the one that nodded and sighed, and then leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“Everyone has one,” he said.

Hyde's, who was still peeking into the room from the doorway, head was spinning though. Did he really hear what he thought he heard? Of course, he was not naïve. His fate had been sealed the moment Tetsuya signed the papers buying him, there was absolutely no way for him to get out of being a slave anymore, ever. Even if it was proven that by doing what they did to him the men were acting illegally, there was no going back anymore. And normally he was not a vengeful person, really. But... but the talk was about people who ruined his life, irreversibly. And apparently, they've done it before to other people as well, and would probably do it to someone else in the future. And if Tetsuya was willing to try and stop them, then Hyde would do everything in his power to help him.

A little afraid to reveal that he had been listening, but determined about doing this, the boy then completely stepped into the doorway, although the two men still didn't seem to notice him. They did turn to him, a bit startled, when he spoke up though.

“They told me not to reveal it to whoever would buy me,” he said while looking down, his voice trembling a little. He tried not to think of this “little detail”, as it still scared him to remember how the men threatened him to stay quiet about it. But now that he was here, he knew that they actually wouldn't be able to do anything to him. They just counted on him being too scared. But he wasn't going to be scared, not if this could help.

“They threatened me about it... But when they put me up for... sale, they sold me for almost twice the price my sister actually owed them. I didn't want to let them, because I thought that if they ask for so much money, there was going to be even less of a chance of someone getting me, but they didn't listen!” He looked up then, staring into Tetsuya's eyes pleadingly, completely not caring at that moment about the rule saying he should try not to do that, “Please, if there is any way you could stop them from doing it to anyone else... or from trying to hurt my sister again somehow...” he trailed off, his petite form tense as it was just so incredibly important to him, “I don't know if what I said helps at all though...”

“Actually, it does help a lot,” Yukihiro spoke up, seemingly getting over his surprise at Hyde joining their conversation so suddenly, “Because it means his offence touches you personally,” he said to Tetsuya, “And that gives you a better reason for why you're interested and want them punished, making the police give the case proper attention,” the skinny man turned to Hyde then and smiled a bit sadly, “Unfortunately, in the world we live in, it's a bigger deal if someone takes a bit more gold from an already rich man than he was supposed to than if he ruins the lives of multiple poor people.”

That was no news to Hyde, of course. He had been dealing with that reality all his live. But it did make him a little relieved to hear that Yukihiro, one of the people that would be completely in control of his life from now on, was at least sympathetic and kind enough to find it wrong as well. After all, from the look of things, he, just like Tetsuya, was in the position of the “rich person” rather than the poor. Which meant he didn't have to care about the situation at all, since it suited him. But he did.

Still, Hyde didn't really know how to respond to it, so he just shrugged helplessly and lowered his head sadly.

“I'm just glad if it would truly help you get them,” he whispered, “I am so afraid they might try to hurt my sister again somehow...”

“It won't happen,” Tetsuya said suddenly, sounding determined, “They wouldn't dare going for the same person twice anyway. And I will make sure they will get consequences for their actions. But now let's eat breakfast. We shouldn't waste too much time today, there's much to do.”

Breakfast turned out to be a far less formal affair in the house than dinner had been. The girls joined them soon after Tetsuya urged them to start eating, and everyone just grabbed whatever they felt like, without some one person having to prepare food for everyone. Yukihiro explained that normally only dinner was always a joined affair here as far as meals went, simply because during other times of the day, the habitants of the house usually were busy with other things anyway, so it was hard to always gather at some agreed upon time.

Hyde just stashed that piece of information in his brain for later, however, as he suddenly felt incredibly hungry again and ate at least two bowls of cereal and three pieces of toast very quickly. Noone commented on it, even though the girls did look at him seeming a bit amused at some point, and Hyde once again appreciated how different the situation with food was here compared to his home.

Once both he and Tetsuya had eaten though, the older man told the boy to come with him and brought him out of the house.

“Since we live so near the centre of the city, most of the places we need to go to are quite nearby, so we walk everywhere,” Tetsuya spoke once they stepped out into the street and Hyde obediently followed the taller man to wherever he was taking him, “It gives at least some work-out. Since you won't be working in the farm anymore, you'll have to make sure to have enough physical activities elsewhere from now on – your appearance is very important in your main duties after all. So we walk.”

“To where?” Hyde couldn't help but ask, and then almost ran into his owner (who had been walking slightly in front of him) as Tetsuya suddenly stopped and looked at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Never ask,” the older man said deeply, “You must show your adherence and complete devotion to your Master by trusting him even when you don't know what he's doing. You must always believe that he would tell you if he thinks you should know. Do you understand?”

Hyde's heartbeat suddenly sped up after Tetsuya started speaking to him like him, as he was so afraid he had said something wrong. And apparently he had, kind of, and the way the taller man spoke to him right now was strict and a bit different from how he spoke yesterday. Less forgiving maybe, but still not in a mean or scary way. It just made Hyde realize that his training now truly started and this was how Tetsuya would train him. And despite being kind and understanding up until now, and despite going slow with things, he sounded like he was actually pretty strict about the things that he _did_ already expect. And so the boy nodded as fast as he could in response.

“I'm sorry, Sir,” he said, lowering his head more as he suddenly also remembered all the other rules that he read this morning and his heart started racing even more. He had truly intended to try and be as obedient to them as possible, since he didn't want any trouble and knew that he had no way of avoiding all of this in the end. But he remembered looking up at both Tetsuya and Yukihiro at least a few times this morning already, and he could only hope that the men either didn't notice it or would be lenient on him about it. The rules did only say “try” at this point, didn't they? And he was trying, he just... forgot.

“It is okay, I'm only telling you now so you can remember from now on. I don't, at least yet, expect you to guess what is expected from you without even being told about it beforehand. But as I said,” he then turned again and resumed walking, maybe a bit slower than he had before, “You shouldn't ask things like that, because if I wanted to tell you, I would. And actually, had you waited a minute or so longer, I would have anyway. We're going to the tailor first,” he revealed finally and quickly turned to flash a fast smile at Hyde, making Hyde blush a little as he knew what that little smile was about.

People were staring at him. His clothes didn't fit, and though it wasn't all that unusual for slaves to be wearing cheap or ugly clothes, the way the too big-attire hung on him truly made him look ridiculous and attracted attention. He really needed clothes, so it was no wonder that it was their first stop.

It didn't take long before they actually reached it either, and as soon as they got inside, a man who could only be the owner of the shop greeted Tetsuya quite loudly.

“Tetsu! You didn't call ahead to tell me you were coming!” the rather weirdly and extremely brightly dressed man almost shouted at them, quickly moving towards the entrance of the shop to greet them (or rather, greet Tetsuya) like an old friend. Which the two of the men probably were, Hyde figured from the display, “Oh, and you always only visit when you have to bring another one of yours to me,” the man continued, finally paying some attention to Hyde and the boy flushed a bit uncomfortably under the scrutinizing gaze and bowed his head, “Not that I dislike it when you bring them here, but I wish you'd come by more often and not only on business,” if the man wasn't an adult, Hyde would have called the expression on the man's face a “pout” right then.

“I'm busy a lot, you know that, Yama-chan. But I'm sorry. You know you can always visit too, don't you?” Tetsuya replied, sounding very honest, and Hyde realized that the men were actually truly good friends, not just acquaintances or business-partners. Which felt a bit weird to realize that his owner had a life outside simply spending all his days training people into being mindless body slaves, but then again... Yukihiro didn't quite look like he was barely putting up with his “boss” either. There was actual friendship there as well.

“I'm sure you're busy,” now this Yama-chan was even grinning teasingly, “When you have a new cutie like this to play with. And a boy too, that's very unusual for you, isn't it? Come here then, little one, let's take a look at you shall we?” the man called him over finally, and Hyde stepped forward towards him, a bit shyly and not quite knowing what to expect, “The usual things you order for the new ones won't apply here then, because of the gender. Unless you want him crossdressing too?” he asked, matter-of-factly and Hyde winced. He never thought about that possibility, and Tetsuya never said anything, but he liked being and dressing like a man. But he knew it wasn't up to him to protest if his owner decided otherwise, so he just really hoped that was not the case.

“Oh, no no,” Tetsuya responded, however, and Hyde sighed in relief, “I was hoping you'd think something along the usual lines, just a bit... altered? And he'll need something now already, so we can walk around the city normally. He's attracting a lot of attention like this.”

“Not surprising,” Yama-chan snorted, “Okay then uhm... what is your name?” he asked.

“Hyde, Sir,” Hyde answered politely, and the man nodded.

“And I'm Yamada Hisashi, but everyone calls me Yama-chan. Now come on over there with me and strip out of those horrible things masquerading as clothes that your Master gave you to wear so I can get your measurements. Just down to the underwear will be fine, though I sure won't complain if you take those off too,” he winked playfully and Hyde blushed, embarrassed, again, but followed the man to a slightly raised part at the back of the shop, where he took off his clothes trying not to think about it too much. He left his underwear on, however, to an exaggeratedly disappointed sigh from Yama-chan. The man brought out a measuring tape then and started doing his job, measuring him very thoroughly to the point of it getting very uncomfortable for the boy, since it became kind of invasive and touchy at parts. But Hyde just tried not to react at all, and soon (though not soon enough) it was over, and Yama-chan stepped away from him again.

“Just the usual sets then, only for a male instead of the usual dresses. I'm glad for the variety, at least. God knows I've become bored making the same clothes year after year for your lot just in different sizes, Tetchan,” the tailor said after finally stepping back from Hyde and going to a rack of clothes at one side of the shop, starting to browse through them as if looking for something specific. Hyde could only awkwardly stand in the same spot, wishing he would finally get the permission to dress himself again, but too afraid to ask for something without reason again, “As always, I'll get it all delivered to you in a day; two maybe, this time, considering I'll have to figure some things out first what with the changes. But for now,” the man suddenly emerged from the rack, with some clothes on a hanger, and brought them back over to Hyde, “Here you go. These should mostly fit, and if not, I can quickly fix them up for you, dear. Now come on, put them on,” he urged nicely, and the boy quickly did as told. In the end, the tailor did have to do some quick corrections, but a few minutes later, Tetsuya was already saying his goodbyes and leaving the shop with Hyde obediently following him out.

The clothes he now wore were nothing special, just some black, rather form-fitting pants and a pale blue shirt that at first had slightly too long sleeves, but Yama-chan had fixed that. And now, Hyde felt much more comfortable, at least because he no longer had people staring at him as he passed them. He got completely different looks now though. The people would glance at him, but only for a second, and then immediately look away again. Some, probably, feeling bad about their society, feeling guilty when they saw him. Some because they pitied him. Some... some looked away with disgust in their eyes, like they couldn't believe they wasted even one second looking at someone as unworthy. Hyde found it surprisingly easy not to be hurt by any of that. He was used to all of these glances. It was just that he was at a different position now. At the receiving end. But at least he had known very well what to expect.

He didn't really know what to expect next from their own little trip now, however. The boy itched to ask where they were going now, but he _had_ learnt from last time so he kept quiet, telling himself that he trusted his owner, and that he didn't really need to know where they were going anyway. He'd get to know once they got there at the very least, and that was enough for... someone like him. For a slave.

“We're here already,” Tetsuya suddenly interrupted his thoughts, not even five minutes after they left Yama-chan's shop and its cheerful owner. Hyde lifted his eyes then to look around himself, and to his confusion found they were standing in front of a tattoo parlour.

“Tattoos?” he asked, sounding as lost as he felt, and Tetsuya looked at him weirdly.

“You must have know we would come here? I said you'd be getting your mark here, haven't I?” he asked, and Hyde's eyes widened.

Oh yes. Now that the taller man mentioned it, Hyde did remember something like that being said before. But he hadn't truly thought about this before, hadn't consciously paid attention to it. Or maybe tried to block it out on purpose. The mark. The slave mark. It was nothing more complicated than a tattoo, one that _every_ slave had. It had to be visible to everyone so the slave wouldn't be able to hide it, but it was also not supposed to be so glaringly obvious that it would “damage the goods”. It was a mark on the body that Masters were supposed to enjoy, after all, so it was necessary for it to not be too big. And thus it had been decided. A slave's registration number, inked onto the inside of their left wrist. Small, but still legible. Noticeable, but not obnoxiously so. Perfectly permanent, with some magic mixed in so it would not ever be removed, not even by surgical means. The last thing to seal his fate.

Having received his answer, Hyde looked at the parlour's sign again. The words looked far more ominous than they had before. His petite body was tense and tears gathered in his eyes, for the first time that day, only to be stubbornly blinked away. He chose this, for himself. He chose this to save his sister. It was all a matter of attitude, of perception. Yes, the mark he would receive here would mean he was a slave, and lower than most people. But to him, it would forever be a sign that he had been brave enough to stand up for what was precious to him. And so, instead of being ashamed of it, he resolved to be proud of it, and stepped into the rather dark building without Tetsuya even having to urge him inside.


	8. Chapter 8

Though he had faked not really understanding Hyde's surprise at finding himself at the tattoo parlour, Tetsuya had actually expected it. All of his girls (and yes, he did call them all “his girls”, despite selling them) reacted the same to this place, even the ones that grew up knowing their fate. There was just something about the idea of getting it permanently etched onto your own body, the fact that you're a slave... Seeing it on paper was bad enough, but somewhere deep in your mind, even if it's ridiculous, one would still think that paper can burn. Registries can be mixed up, something, somewhere might just happen that would change it all. But this made it completely inescapable. Unless you were willing to cut your own hand off, and noone was. Noone that Tetsuya knew at least. Not when in reality, even _that_ wouldn't change anything.

So that's why he acted like that when Hyde realized where they were. He had just learned, over the years, that acting as nonchalantly as possible was the best course of action. It calmed the slaves down, somehow, made them believe it was not that big of a deal. Which wasn't quite true, of course, but most of them were desperate enough that they latched onto that thought. That was, Tetsuya assumed, what happened in Hyde's mind as well when the boy suddenly walked in through the door without further orders to do so. He probably just convinced himself of how insignificant this was, or maybe of something else that gave him as much comfort. And Tetsuya was glad. He didn't want to see another one of his break down at this doorway. 

And so it was that the older man was the one that wandered into the small establishment following the boy, instead of the other way around. But of course it was still Tetsuya that spoke with the artist himself (a rather introverted man that Tetsuya had dealt with as many times for business as he had with Yama-chan, but never quite got to know beyond their usual exchanges over the slaves), giving him the right number to draw. 

It was truly such a routine thing that there was nary any need for words to be exchanged before Tetsuya returned to the petite boy's side again. The pretty man had just stood near the entrance, silently waiting for his owner to deal with things and once the taller man came to him, Hyde didn't lift his head to look at him. He was learning, Tetsuya realized with a weird pang to his heart. It felt weird. Hyde was so young, he should be so energetic, so thirsty for life. And here he was, learning to be as docile and obedient as a pet. But then again, Tetsuya's usual “purchases” weren't much older than this boy anyway.

“Are you ready?” he asked gently, and the tense figure moved finally, to nod in affirmative, “You should answer out loud when I ask a question,” he commented, and though there was a warning tone in his voice, he was still being very soft and not pushy with his new charge.

“I'm sorry, Sir,” he apologized, immediately, “Yes, I'm as ready as I'll ever be,” he finally answered correctly then, and Tetsuya smiled, understandingly but sadly.

“You must know, it will hurt as it gets done,” he spoke further, putting a hand on Hyde's shoulder and squeezing it supportively, “And it will take time. I know it can get hard to bear, especially as it is not something you want, but I'll be with you the whole time and I need you to get through it for me, alright?” he asked, and Hyde nodded again.

“Yes, Sir,” the boy whispered an answer quietly, and allowed himself to be led over to a chair where he had to sit while the tattoo artist worked on his wrist.

Tetsuya knew he was asking for something difficult when he said “do it for me”. They've known each other for barely a day, there was no bond between them yet, Hyde had little reason to do _anything_ for him. But once again, the slave trainer worded himself that way on purpose. This was, with time, going to become the best way to urge the slave to do something he might not wish to do. Because pleasing one's owner was the most important. And this was the perfect opportunity to introduce Hyde to the phrase, to the power it held. Even now, the boy already wasn't able to refuse. And with time, the more Tetsuya used it, the stronger the phrase would get.

The older man did make true on his promise, and stayed beside his boy through the whole process, holding his other hand and comforting him as well as he could every time the petite figure tensed up more because of pain. But Hyde actually bore the procedure very well, better than Tetsuya expected, even. He had his eyes closed most of the time, as if trying to distance himself from what was happening, but other than tensing up a bit every once in a while, he stayed very still thus making it easy for the tattoo-artist to work. The man was done faster than usual, and there was the number, carefully crafted into the now irritated and reddened skin that would still have to heal. Hyde finally opened his eyes when he realized it was finished as the artist stood up and left him for a moment, and looked at his wrist. First curiously, then with an expression of resignation and forced acceptance. He stared at it for half a minute, saying nothing, under his owner's gaze, before suddenly reaching for the new decoration of his body with his other hand, obviously intending to touch it.

“No, don't” Tetsuya whispered with a warning, grasping the other hand with his own again to stop the boy, “Don't touch it. It's easily infected now and has to be treated carefully for a while. Let it be covered up,” he said just as the artist came back, bringing some bandages with himself and with practised ease wrapped the tiny man's wrist with it.

It was a relief not only for Hyde, but for Tetsuya too when, after paying for everything, they finally left the dark shop and its rather stifling atmosphere. Hyde still looked truly subdued and kept staring at his bandaged arm mutely while following his owner to their next destination. But this time, Tetsuya was leading them somewhere that would hopefully improve the new slave's mood instead of dampening it further. He let Hyde stay quietly while they walked, giving the boy space to come to terms with what just happened, but once they reached the central street with its tiny shops and buzzing, loud noise of their customers milling around, Hyde seemed to break out of his shell himself, suddenly looking around as if woken up by the cheerful chatter of the crowd. When that happened, Tetsuya stopped and smiled down at the much younger man.

“You've been behaving very well today, especially at the tattoo parlour,” he said, as an explanation to why they were here, “And from now on, just like bad behaviour might get you punished, _good_ behaviour might earn you a reward. Now,” the taller man reached for his belt, taking his money pouch and opening it, “I couldn't help noticing how much you seem to love food, so this seems fitting,” he said, taking out three golden coins and handing them to the surprised boy, “There's a lot of food stands here, so you can use this money to buy whatever you wish,” he finally finished explaining his idea and gestured for Hyde to go ahead already, but the other just seemed frozen, still staring at the coins that seemed so big, sitting on his tiny palm.

“But... this is so much money,” Hyde finally spoke up after a while, sounding shocked, but Tetsuya just patted him on the head and ruffled his hair a bit.

“If you don't want it, I can of course take it away. But if I gave this much to you, that means I think you deserved them, so you should use it, okay?” he asked, and Hyde finally nodded, flashing him a thankful grin suddenly and pretty much dashing away to the first food-stand he saw, gripping the coins tightly in his fist.

It soon was clear that the slave-trainer had not been mistaken by thinking that food would be he perfect way to distract Hyde from what had happened before. The opportunity to buy so much food, some of which he had never tried before, had the boy in a very child-like rush, running from one place to another until he had bought and eaten enough to feed a small family: three pieces of gold was indeed a large sum for a slave's pocket money, but Tetsuya reasoned it was a special occasion after all. The older man himself also bought something to eat for lunch, but he was satisfied after far less.

Half an hour later they ended up in a nearby park, sitting on a bench while Hyde gorged on his remaining treats, which included a large cone of ice-cream in one hand (four different flavours – Hyde, apparently, had ice cream only once before in his life and jumped on the opportunity to try some again) and cotton candy in his other. Both were disappearing rather quickly, however, and only a few minutes later were gone completely, with the boy sighing a little with satisfaction.

“I take it you enjoyed that?” the taller man asked with amusement and got an enthusiastic nod in response.

“Yes, I did. Thank you so much, Sir,” Hyde answered, looking up at him with a wide smile on his face, and Tetsuya suddenly got an urge that he couldn't resist and didn't have any _reason_ to try and resist. With that incredibly beautiful face turned to him, with an expression of such simple happiness, such innocence and openness, and with those plush, cherry-red lips so accessible, Hyde was far too tempting and so Tetsuya raised a hand, cupping his pretty slave's cheek and bent down, gently pressing his lips to Hyde's, staying like that for a few moments, softly varying the pressure. Hyde's eyes went wide at first, as he obviously hadn't expected anything like that, but a few moments later they slid slowly closed as the boy gave into the unfamiliar but pleasant sensation. And when he ended the kiss, that was how Tetsuya saw him once he opened his own eyes: face tilted upward, his eyes closed in innocent bliss, the cheek under his owner's long fingers tinged pink. Tetsuya smiled and stroked the cheek fondly until those pretty, brown eyes fluttered open again, struggling to focus after such a sudden new experience.

“That was your first kiss, wasn't it?” Tetsuya muttered the question that had such an obvious answer, and the colour in Hyde's cheeks intensified a bit more as he nodded shyly.

“Yes, Sir,” he whispered, obviously embarrassed, and Tetsuya smiled wider.

“Did you like it?” the older man pried further, trying to get Hyde to open up and start learning to talk about such things.

“It... it was... nice,” the blushing boy stuttered cutely, and Tetsuya chuckled.

“Just nice?” he asked, amused, “Maybe we should try it again then, so I can show you how nice it can really be,” he suggested and already started leaning in, when Hyde flushed even more and lowered his head a little, as if trying to avoid it.

“I... I don't even know what to do,” he confessed innocently before Tetsuya could reprimand him for not obeying him, and the slave-trainer stopped for a second.

“It's okay. That's why I'm here – to teach you,” he whispered sensuously, carefully raising Hyde's head again by gently cupping his chin, “Just follow what I do and try to respond.”

“But there are people around,” came another tiny protest, as Hyde still was looking to the side and seemed very aware of the fact that they were, after all, still in a public park with quite a few people passing by them.

“It's okay,” Tetsuya insisted, “Just relax,” and then their lips were pressing together again.

This time, Hyde closed his eyes immediately, or rather _squeezed_ them shut as if trying to block out the knowledge that there were people around who could see what they were doing. Tetsuya went slowly, taking his time to bring the boy's focus back to where it should be: to the feeling of their lips brushing against each other's, to the sensation of their breaths mingling together, their scents invading each others lungs as they were so close. Only when he felt the initial tension disappear in the other's posture did Tetsuya try to proceed a little further, parting his lips, capturing one of Hyde's between them playfully before his tongue darted out quickly to flick over those soft, rosy petals that slowly but surely started responding to him. There was hesitation of course, but after Tetsuya's tongue licked over his lips the second time, Hyde slowly parted them, inhaling his owner's breath between them with sweet, childish inexperience. 

The older man immediately took advantage of the barely-conscious action, slipping his tongue into moistness waiting for him beyond those full lips, boldly licking over the tiny man's teeth immediately. Hyde gasped into the kiss, startled by the action but, admirably for someone who hadn't even known how kisses worked, didn't withdraw and just surrendered to the other man's mercy, letting him do whatever he wanted. Tetsuya thus let his tongue slide in deeper, exploring his new slave's mouth languidly, getting familiar with every crevice of it while his unoccupied hand found its was to the boy's side, sliding up the incredibly petite body, bringing it even closer to himself until their torsos were pressed together. Hyde didn't have a choice but to curl his own small hands into his owner's clothing, clinging to it while he had his breath sucked out of his lungs by the deep kiss, his own tongue tenderly coaxed into action by the warm and wet invader in his mouth. Tetsuya could then feel how Hyde cautiously obeyed the mute command, moving his tongue in tandem with his, losing himself in their passionate dance. The grip on the slave-trader’s clothes started to tighten even more as both of them became slightly desperate for air, but Tetsuya was unwilling to stop yet and kept them joined in the kiss for a little longer, sucking Hyde's tongue into his own mouth momentarily before finally withdrawing, immediately gasping for breath.

They were both breathing heavily for a bit afterwards, their bodies heated up, eyes closed and their foreheads touching until finally the more experienced one of them recovered enough to thread his fingers through the boy's shoulder-length hair and inhaling deeply before smirking.

“So,” he purred, his breath sliding over Hyde's heated cheeks as their faces were still impossibly close, “Did you like it _this_ time?”

The boy's eyes shot open and, apparently suddenly recovering and catching himself, he immediately straightened out, sitting upright again and releasing his grip on Tetsuya's shirt before looking to the side, acutely embarrassed. But he also obviously knew he _had_ to answer the question.

“I... I did...” he exhaled, wringing his hands in his lap, looking like he wished he could suddenly disappear just so he could avoid talking, “It was... It was so...” he trailed off, his voice trembling and unsteady, but Tetsuya didn't let him get away without finishing the thought.

“Yes?” he urged to continue, the fingers of one of his hands still playing with the tips of Hyde's hair. A shudder ran through the slave's tiny figure, but Hyde visibly gave in.

“It was so... overwhelming,” he confessed, gripping the edge of the bench now like he was afraid he would fall off of it otherwise, “I've never felt anything like this before...”

Tetsuya smirked. Hyde's eyes were closed again, as if he was inwardly reliving the experience while he talked, the huskiness of his voice supporting the possibility. Wanting to tease the boy more, he leaned in towards Hyde's ear, so close their cheeks almost touched, and whispered in response.

“And this just the beginning of the things I'll show you, of the pleasures I'll teach you. You've only just dipped your toes into these waters now,” he almost hummed, “Can you imagine, if you liked this so much, how wonderful you shall feel once we go further?”

Tetsuya didn't know why it happened here, now, in this park, after nothing but an (admittedly amazing) kiss, but his own imagination was suddenly running wild. Hyde was so young, so innocent. Not even a man yet, just a child. And Tetsuya used to frown upon that, used to think of those grey-haired old men that so loved the flesh of young boys as nothing but perverts. Creeps. But now, after getting a small taste of it, he could understand it so much better. Having this young body and mind belong to him... _his_ to corrupt, _his_ to seduce, _his_ to bring into the world of adults far before his time... It was an intoxicating thought. So intoxicating and tempting that his mind got flooded by images, by suggestions, by the possibilities of just pushing that petite body down on this very bench and spoiling its innocence right here and then...

But that was not going to happen. Tetsuya took a shuddering breath himself then, leaning back again and standing up suddenly, before extending a hand towards Hyde, offering to help him get up.

“Let's go now,” he whispered and, both of them a bit dazed but for different reasons, they left the park and went back into the thick of the city.


	9. Chapter 9

“There are still quite a few more places we need to visit today, and quite a few more things we need to do, so it's actually better to hurry a little,” Tetsuya was saying as he led his charge away from the food section of the market and further down until they reached a completely different part of it. First of all, the older man made Hyde wait for him outside a jeweller’s store for a couple of minutes while he went in and quickly got the collar he had ordered to be made and engraved to his specifications yesterday. He quickly paid for his purchase and then stepped out again with the neatly wrapped package without explaining anything to the young slave for now and immediately walked to their next destination which was an apothecary/alchemist's store.

This time, he made Hyde come in together with him as he thought it was only fair the boy already heard what his owner wanted to get for him from here. Not to mention it would save Tetsuya the trouble of explaining it later. With the boy quietly following him into the grim looking shop filled with weird scents but no other people, the slave trainer immediately stepped to the counter and rang the bell once, waiting patiently for the alchemist that ran the shop. Soon, a rather weary-looking middle aged fellow poked out his head from behind a wooden door and smiled when he saw the customer waiting for him.

“Ogawa-kun, wasn't it?” he asked, walking up to the counter from the other side and quite obviously glancing over to the boy that Tetsuya had with him this time, “I assume that a new trainee of yours, so you probably came here for the Hairlessness and the Contraceptive potion? You prefer the reversible kind, if I remember correctly?” the man asked, turning to one of the many shelves behind his back to, presumably, search for the items in question.

“Yes, that's right,” Tetsuya responded calmly, ignoring the way Hyde's eyes widened just a fraction. The boy remained quiet, however, and as by now Tetsuya almost came to expect – understanding soon showed in those young but very intelligent eyes. The first potion was, perhaps, a bit embarrassing to hear about, but not too big of a deal. The second however, probably sounded much more ominously. Nobody wanted to deal with slaves getting pregnant or them knocking someone up so turning to some methods to prevent it from the very start seemed to be the most logical solution. Some people even made the slaves take something that made them permanently unable to conceive, but Tetsuya liked to at least leave the possibility open. The potion he was buying would work for as long as the antidote wasn't administered, thus making sure nobody needed to worry about it anyway. It was a bit more expensive than the permanent solutions, but Tetsuya always thought the extra gold was worth it to give his slaves some piece of mind that their natural right to procreation wasn't being completely taken away from them. Even if it was merely an illusion to most of them.

“Forty-nine pieces of gold,” the shopkeeper then said the usual price after finding the right potions, but when Tetsuya reached for his money pouch to pay up already, the alchemist stopped him for a bit by talking further, “This one's really young, I believe, how old is he? Twelve? Thirteen?” the man asked thoughtfully, his eyes fixed on Hyde as he scratched his thick, auburn beard.

“Recently turned thirteen,” Tetsuya answered, not really blaming the man for guessing a little below the actual age as Hyde was so petite and tiny that he did look even younger than he already was. It was, however, quite unusual for this shopkeeper to ask about such things and Tetsuya was intrigued enough by the reason for it that he patiently waited for the man to continue.

“I suppose you will be largely relying on people with the taste for truly young slaves when selling him later on, won't you?” was the bearded man's next question and this time the slave trainer only nodded in response, “I might have an offer you might be interested in then. It's a rather new concoction of mine, but I assure you – perfectly safe without any lasting side-effects later on, and can be used as a replacement for the Hairlessness potion so although it's also quite a bit more expensive, at least you can stop worrying about renewing that one as well.”

Tetsuya frowned a little, not quite understanding yet what the man was getting at. He also knew it could simply be the man trying to coax him into purchasing something he didn't really need to earn more money, but something to him the alchemist before him held far too much pride in is work to turn to petty schemes like that. Besides, he knew he was intelligent enough not to fall for one if that was the case, so there was no ill in hearing the man's offer out.

“What exactly do you mean?” he asked, and, hearing interest in his voice, the shopkeeper's face brightened with some weird professional excitement as suddenly he turned back to his shelves and returned with another bottle, this one looking quite elaborate and fancy and completely unfamiliar to the young slave maker.

“I'm talking about _this,”_ he gestured excitedly, and this was most assuredly the most animated that Tetsuya had ever seen the alchemist, _“_ I am calling it an Immaturity Potion for now, though the name needs rethinking, I admit, sounds a bit too negative... In any case, it only works for children that have yet to go though puberty completely and in essence, it works by stunting their growth and postponing their maturity for a few years. For someone as young as this boy here, it would also reverse some of the things he already went through – he would stop growing hair again and for at least... I'd say two years, for him, he would not look any older than he is now. He would be stuck in the perfect age that most of the people interested in buying him would appreciate the most. However, after those two years have passed, the effects would stop working and his ageing would resume as usual, a bit more rapidly perhaps to catch up with what should have happened normally.”

Tetsuya listened to it all very intently and couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine once he realize the extent of what they were talking about. He glanced at Hyde then, to check how the boy was reacting to the possibility himself but the petite child was not looking too scared. A little resigned, perhaps, but he didn't seem like he was as shocked by the idea as even his owner himself was. But the older man couldn't help it – this was something he had not heard being done before, which made sense since the alchemist said this was a new invention. Of course, he could not deny that in a way this sounded perfect – just a tool to make a slave stay in his most desirable state for as long as possible. But it was so huge, that it made Tetsuya think that it was humans trying to play with things that were not up to them to toy with. And even more – if the potion was new, then how could they be sure it wouldn't have any adverse effects and was safe as the shopkeeper claimed. The thought being his main issue with the potion, he shared it, wanting the alchemist to give him a good enough answer.

“I am nation-wide acknowledged as the best alchemist in this continent, if not the world,” the shopkeeper answered him with a small frown, as if he felt insulted, “I would not risk that reputation, for one, by causing any incidents. Secondly, I did not _earn_ such reputation by selling experimental potions without adequately testing them. I can put my put all my reputation on the line for this – I am sure that the biggest side effect experienced after taking this potion would be increased muscle pain from growing up too fast once the potion wears off. Most teenagers experience such pains during puberty anyway but after this potion stops working, because the body has to catch up with the growth it had missed out on, those pains would become noticeably bigger. However, I dare say even that shouldn't be a big issue in this certain case. From the size of your slave at his age, it would be a reasonable guess to say he is not going to grow tall as an adult, making the strain of growth be almost completely insignificant, even with the potion.”

This time, Hyde did react a bit more than before, making a small noise of protest before catching himself and becoming silent again. But Tetsuya had to catch a small chuckle at that as he realized the boy simply didn't like being called small and petite so much, which was pretty normal for boys of his age that dreamt of growing up to be big and strong.

He himself, however, felt reassured. Despite the fact that he didn't quite like the shopkeeper's tone and the way he just said he wouldn't risk his _reputation_ and not that he would risk damaging a slave (not that this was unusual – most people didn't consider slaves important enough to be considerate of them), Tetsuya felt like he could believe the shopkeeper's words about the safety of the potion at least. Simply because the man did look like someone who treasured pride and reputation above everything else.

“How much is it?” he asked finally.

“Fifty pieces of gold instead of the usual five for the Hairlessness Potion. Which brings up the total to a ninety-four. I should also mention that unlike the Hairlessness potion, this one doesn't need to be taken every nine months. One dose is enough to work for as long as it is possible for the effect to last in general.”

That did sound like a pretty huge sum to the slave trainer regardless, but he knew it was probably worth it if it really worked properly, which he didn't really doubt by now. The calculative man hesitated for one more minute, considering all the sides of the deal and observing his slave at the same time. Hyde still didn't look like he was bothered too much by the idea, and Tetsuya could only imagine what was going on in his head – he was probably thinking that compared to suddenly being sold and becoming a slave, spending a few more years that usual as a pre-pubescent boy didn't sound all that big.

“I'll take it then,” he said finally, feeling, for some reason, a bit like he was giving in. He paid the price, as large as it was (but since it was a long-term investment it was fine anyway), and then quickly left the store, somehow not feeling like staying in it any longer than it was necessary. He then led them both towards the nearest bench and told Hyde to sit down and wait for him after putting down his purchases near the boy, before quickly going to the nearest stand where he could buy a drink and returning again.

“I can't really read you right now,” he admitted, as uncomfortable as it made him, “These two potions,” he pointed at the two small bottles one after the other, “What are your thoughts about them? And remember, when I ask you a question you must answer, and you must be honest. I won't punish you now if you say you don't like it, I'd rather you just be truthful,” he urged quite casually. The boy seemed to think about the answer for a bit before shrugging and that motion alone made the slave trainer realize that the boy... truly, honestly didn't mind this.

“I've heard about the... uhm... the contraceptive potion? Before,” he started, wringing his hands in his lap uncomfortably, as was his obvious habit whenever he was nervous, “It always made sense. I wouldn't want to have children as a slave, they would only be taken away and raised into slavery themselves, wouldn't they?” the tiny slave asked insecurely and Tetsuya nodded. That was where most of the “born-slaves” came from, actually, “Even if that wasn't the case, for now, I am far too young and... I wouldn't want... I don't know what your plans for me are but if I am to uhm... sleep with some girl any time soon... Besides as far I understand it is reversible so if the situation ever changed somehow...”

The petite man seemed to have problems talking about this subject any more eloquently and for now, Tetsuya had pity on him.

“And this one?” he pointed at the Immaturity Potion and the boy shrugged again.

“That one I care even less about,” he said easily, and at his owner's raised eyebrow, he elaborated, “It's just my body. It doesn't mean I won't... mature mentally. And if it makes the people that own me like me more, doesn't that make my life only easier? I'm trying to view it like that, mostly...”

That all made sense, Tetsuya decided after listening to the boy's reasoning. Of course, the slave still didn't know everything and didn't take some things into consideration because of that lack of knowledge, but in the essence all he said held true. That was why, finally, the older man gestured at the bottles again.

“Drink them, then,” he ordered quickly, “The Contraceptive potion first, then the other one. A far as I now they don't taste the best so you can drink this after you're done,” he indicated the bottle of ramune that he had bought just then solely for this purpose.

“If the Immaturity potion works anything like the Hairlessness one in regards to body hair, which the alchemist _said_ it would, then we need to make a visit at the hair salon,” the slave trainer continued while the boy quickly downed one potion after the other, grimacing at the taste, before opening the ramune bottle. The sweet drink seemed to give the boy some childish joy again, at least, and Tetsuya had to smile softly as he witnessed how much his slave enjoyed the simple pleasure, “The hair will stop growing, but that doesn't mean that the hair you have now will suddenly all disappear. They're going to start falling out slowly, naturally, and that gets very annoying, very quickly. That's why it is best to get rid of it all at once.”

That made Hyde stop drinking suddenly and look up at the taller man, forgetting again about the rule he had to follow in regards to that.

“Get... rid?” he asked quietly, sounding honestly puzzled.

“Don't look directly at me,” Tetsuya ordered then, reminding the boy of the rule that he was supposed to at least be trying to remember and the tiny man blushed and lowered his eyes again but still obviously waited for an answer, “Let's just go there now, you'll see,” Tetsuya sighed tiredly, getting up. There was no use explaining when he would simply experience it soon. And just like that Hyde was then rushing to gulp down the last few sips of his drink before throwing all the bottles into a nearby recycling bin and following his owner further again. The boy looked a little flustered now, as if not knowing what exactly they were going to do next after getting a slight hint bothered him more than not knowing anything altogether. But Tetsuya stayed quiet all of the two minutes that it took for them to reach their next destination.

Just like in the other places, the person that met them knew who Tetsuya was from his previous visits and what with an obviously new slave accompanying him there was no need for questions about why they came there. The beautiful, elegant woman in charge was a stark contrast to the previous shopkeeper they had dealt with – where the alchemist obviously had only viewed the petite boy as an opportunity to try out his new potion on, the woman treated the slave as a human being and talked to him directly even more than to Tetsuya. The slave trainer didn't mind and just smiled as he actually found it quite adorable how the tiny man gained a look of pleasant surprise at being spoken to so kindly, and even blushed when he took in the beauty of the woman.

“Would you prefer a male or female beautician?” the woman asked after exchanging a few pleasantries and leading them to a small room at the back of the shop, and Tetsuya finally had to speak up again as there was suddenly confusion on Hyde's face again.

“You'll have to get naked in front of them for this,” he whispered after bending down towards the boy's ear, explaining why he was being given the choice. The words made the blush bloom over the pretty boy's face full force and he obviously had trouble answering the question.

“Uhm...” he stuttered a little, obviously thinking intensively. Tetsuya could once again guess what was going through his mind – getting naked in front of members of the same gender was usually more comfortable. But right now, Hyde also knew that by the end of his training he would mostly be serving men, which meant he actually would feel more like a sexual object in front of males even now already. That made the choice a bit less straightforward, especially as women in general usually felt... safe and motherly even.

“They... if it's for hair removal they'd actually touch... _there_... right?” the boy asked finally, very quietly, looking up at his owner questioningly and Tetsuya nodded in response, “Male then, please?” he made his choice and the woman that had waited very patiently and indulgently for him to decide, nodded with a soft smile.

“I'll send someone over in a minute then,” she said before turning towards Tetsuya finally, “He's a sweetie, Ogawa-kun, I hope you'll be sending him to my courses at some point?” she asked a bit mischievously, making Hyde probably beat some kind of blushing record with how red his face had become at hearing that. Tetsuya sighed, faking exasperation, but the smile that stayed on his face gave his actual amusement away. Even though he was _partly_ serious. He didn't actually need the problems that his slave getting an obvious crush on one of his future tutors would bring. And at this point it looked almost inevitable that he _would_. But then again, didn't every boy get a crush on an older woman sometime in their lifetime? It was better to get that (and the just as inevitable heartbreak) over when Tetsuya knew it was going on

“Of course, Megumi-san,” he answered and the woman finally left after chuckling lightly at his expression.

“Her courses?” came a curious and a bit too hopeful for Tetsuya's liking question from the boy.

“I told you, didn't I? In time you'll get to improve your skills by working at different places and also by attending some special courses. Like the etiquette ones I already mentioned yesterday. Oishi Megumi offers to teach the basics of caring for your body in general as well as make-up, hair care and so on. All of which you'll have to know just in case.”

His explanation and Hyde's further questions were cut short at that point as a man came into the small room then, introducing himself as the beautician that “Madam Megumi” had sent over. Hyde was then asked to take off his clothes and the boy obeyed, even though he was slow with embarrassment as he had to do it with two other people watching. The beautician did look away at least, but Tetsuya kept on obviously staring on purpose – Hyde had to get used to doing this, the faster the better.

Once he was nude completely, Hyde had to lie down on a table in the middle of the small room and closed his eyes so he would not have to see it when the worker looked over him so obviously. The young man brushed fingertips over the boy' calves, looked as emotionlessly and professionally as possible at the thin bush around his genitals and raised his arms to inspect his armpits.

“He almost doesn't have any hair on his legs to speak about, but I suppose you still want it removed?” he asked, and Tetsuya just nodded, looking down at the boy who still had his eyes stubbornly shut. On an impulse, the older man stepped forward and reached for Hyde's hand, holding it in his own tightly. That made the boy startle slightly, but his eyes remained closed. His hand, however, squeezed Tetsuya's in return as if appreciating the gesture. It was obvious the boy was a little scared and more than a little uncomfortable.

“Then we will start from there, go to his groin area and then armpits, and finally he'll have to turn over so we can take care of his backside,” the man spoke casually and soon turned away to some shelves on the side of the room to prepare the tools he would need. Sensing that the man had gone away, Hyde carefully opened one eye first, checking around himself, and once he saw he was right looked up at Tetsuya instead. This time, the slave trainer didn't have the heart to remind the boy he was supposed to look down.

“Is he going to shave it? I could shave it myself. I mean, I've never had to do it before, but...” the tiny man asked hopefully in a whisper, though the beautician could probably hear perfectly well anyway and just ignored it, and Tetsuya was once again reminded just how young and innocent and, well, how much still of a child the person before him was.

“No, not shaving... he's going to wax it off,” he explained smoothly, his voice low, and the androgynous boy grimaced.

“Is it.. it's going to hurt, isn't it?” he asked weakly, and Tetsuya squeezed the hand that he held reassuringly.

“Yes it will. But nothing you can't take, I'm sure. You did so well while getting the tattoo, it won't be any worse,” he tried to smile encouragingly, but the reminder of the mark probably didn't really help Hyde relax. The boy looked at the bandage around his left wrist, as if trying to make it go away, “Hey,” Tetsuya spoke again, in a whisper, squatting down so he would be more or less at the same level a the boy who turned back to face him at the prompt, “I'll be here the whole time and it will be done before you even know it, okay? No need to be afraid at all.”

He wasn't sure if the reassurance of “I'm here” would work with the boy as they barely knew each other yet and Hyde probably had yet to learn to trust him. But it _did_ , somehow, and Hyde relaxed again, lying down properly just in time as the worker returned a second or so later, stripes of wax ready in his hands.

Just like at the tattoo parlour, Hyde proved to do very well when dealing with pain. He did seem to grit his teeth a little, and he held onto Tetsuya's hand for his dear life while the beautician worked on his legs, but he didn't let even one sound escape his lips. It was only when the time came to deal with his crotch and the man lifted his penis a little to get to where he needed that the boy suddenly squeezed his owner's hand more tightly, his breathing hitching a little. The man was acting as professionally as possible, not touching the boy's genitals any more than absolutely necessary, but it was obvious how uncomfortable it made Hyde regardless. Tetsuya filed it away in his brain as relevant information, even if it was just further confirmation of observations he had made earlier already – the boy had huge problems with being touched. That meant Tetsuya would have to go slow and considerately when trying to make Hyde get used to it all later on. It probably meant that Hyde's training would take longer than previously expected, but for some reason Tetsuya didn't mind. Each slave he trained was different, and Tetsuya prided himself in doing it properly for each of them.

Regardless, other than Tetsuya losing feeling in the tip of his fingers by the time it was done, Hyde somehow managed to get through getting his groin hairless without any further complications. His armpits, in comparison, were much easier than that and when he turned over and the beautician got to work with removing the hair around his anus, it was mostly a problem of taking it mentally than suffering through the pain, which, though for a second Tetsuya had feared the boy had stopped breathing, went over pretty much fine as well. The slave trader actually barely even glanced away from Hyde's face through the whole process, however, too intent on making sure the boy was alright so he didn't even actually look at Hyde, despite what the tiny man thought.

The beautician quickly left then to give them privacy for getting ready to leave and Hyde slid off the table to start dressing himself, without Tetsuya even ordering him to. This would change in time, the taller man would make sure that the boy would quickly know better than to act on his own volition. This time, however, it was just one more thing that the the older man let slide almost completely, or at least without punishment. But he did speak up, making Hyde freeze just as he was about to a little shakily start putting on his boxers.

“Wait, stay as you are,” Tetsuya said calmly, but quite strictly. The boy glanced up at his, surprised, and wavered, obviously wanting to hide his body away as quickly as possible. But in the end his hands, one of which clutched the hunched up underwear, fell to his sides. The taller man nodded approvingly at the obedience and then stepped a little closer, looking over the petite body before him, seeing it shiver under his scrutinizing gaze. He had made the tiny man strip before him yesterday already, of course, and he had inspected his figure earlier in the market, but neither of those times did he actually just took in what he saw. In the market he just looked so he could verify the body's value, and in the evening he was proving a point to the boy about him not having any reason to be afraid. 

Now, however, he just looked, and it was the first time he saw Hyde in the proper condition too – hairless and smooth, like he would always be from now on. Starting from his pretty face, down his long neck and prominent collar-bones, his boyish chest with perky, pink nipples that looked like they would be so much fun to tease. Then down his arms to those tiny hands with short but somehow cute fingers, and the stomach that was flat and yet already had some lovely muscle-definition. Here, Tetsuya reached out to trace the outlines of those muscles with his fingers, hearing the boy gasp and automatically try to somehow avoid the touch – this time by sucking in his belly which of course didn't really work. 

The older man chuckled, however, and finally looked further down to the part that had changed the most, perhaps, after the hair removal. They boy's penis hung innocently between his legs – not small, not for the tiny man's size, but not bigger than the average either. But, most likely, it was still not completely developed. Just like the rest of the boy's body, of course, considering his age, but somehow for Tetsuya it was the most apparent when it came to _this_ part. 

“Is... Is something wrong, Sir?” Hyde finally couldn't help but speak up after all. Tetsuya had guessed that it was coming – the moment Hyde saw his owner focus on his crotch he had noticeably flinched and looked to the side, biting on his bottom lip nervously. It was probably something that was the hardest for the boy to simply let the other man do without a single complaint, especially since Tetsuya had already been taking a while simply staring.

“Shh, don't,” the older man whispered warningly, “Don't speak, I just wish to look,” he explained. But after his gaze quickly slid further down to appraise Hyde's lean, smooth legs for a second, he felt like he had had enough for now anyway. Or perhaps that was not entirely true – he would have loved to look at that body for even longer, and touch it more as well, but he feared that then he'd start craving to do even more things to the boy already. And this was not the time to even dream about such things. Not yet. The slave trainer stepped back again.

“Now you can dress,” he ordered in that same calm-but-strict voice as before and then just stood on the side, silently observing while the boy put on his clothes.

The last part of their trip went quite uneventfully. Tetsuya paid for the waxing and they left the salon to go further into the market and buy some other items that Hyde would need since he came into Tetsuya's possession with literally nothing in his. Toothbrush, shampoo, nail clippers, hair-brush (as they bought that the slaver even thought that maybe they should go back to the salon and get Hyde a haircut, since he had kind of forgot about the boy's longer hair earlier. But after considering it for a moment longer he decided he rather liked the style on the petite slave, at least for now) and various other items that made sure all of Hyde's daily needs would be taken care of. And then they were done.

Tetsuya turned to walk home without actually saying anything to Hyde and silently observed how the boy would react and if he would remember how earlier in the day Tetsuya told him not to ask, to trust and not question. At first the tiny man just followed him like before, probably thinking they were going to yet another shop or so. Then, once they entered the streets where the shuffling crowd started thinning out a little, the boy at some point seemed to startle out of his thoughts, looked around curiously and even glanced at Tetsuya who pretended to be looking at something else. The older man waited for the boy to ask then, but seconds passed and they were still walking in silence. The slave still looked a bit confused but didn't dare speak up. Once he was satisfied that Hyde had apparently learned this lesson already, Tetsuya smiled (not that the boy could see it since the taller man was walking half a step in front of him). This was good. Hyde was showing to be a clever boy who was willing to listen to the advice that would make his life easier. And he was attentive. Maybe his training would go along much more smoothly than Tetsuya had anticipated in the beginning when he first judged his character. Slowly (considering his strong problems at being touched), but smoothly.

“We're going home,” he finally said then and could almost laugh when he saw how first the confusion disappeared from Hyde's face, and then the slave's expression brightened up greatly, “Did you dislike the day?” he asked out of curiosity of what the tiny man would say, “You can speak openly, I won't get mad,” he added the permission as well.

“I...” the boy started but then trailed off, grimacing as if he was trying to think of a good enough answer, “Some parts were not... very pleasant,” he finally said, and Tetsuya nodded understandingly, as he was sure Hyde had the tattoo and the waxing in mind, “I actually quite liked spending the time with you, though you're... kind. Not like I expected,” Hyde continued, blushing a little as he admitted that part, “I am glad to know we're going home now, however. But that's not because I disliked it all, simply because... shopping is tiring,” he finished finally and Tetsuya had to wholeheartedly agree with _that_.


	10. Chapter 10

Hyde was left to unpack his own things himself in his room after they came back to the house, and he made sure to do it as tidily as possible to keep his place looking as orderly as he could. Though noone had ordered it outright to him yet, he was pretty sure he was supposed to keep the room clean and not make a mess of it; Tetsuya in particular looked like someone who had very high standards when it came to cleanliness.

Once he was done, however, he suddenly realized his owner hadn't told him what he was supposed to do next with his time. It was around 2 o'clock in the afternoon so supper was still a long while off. And he didn't feel it was right for him to stay in his room doing nothing, just waiting for someone to come and tell him something, so he carefully travelled down out of his room and, barefooted, made his way through the house in search of Tetsuya. The man hadn't told him where he would go when he had left Hyde in his room with the bags, but living-room sounded like a good place to start the search.

However, the room appeared to be empty when he entered it. Hyde was about to immediately turn around and search in other places, but suddenly changed his mind. He wanted to familiarize himself better with the house finally as he hadn't quite had the chance yet, so he thought it would be okay for him to look around here a little and he quietly shuffled further into the room.

Like the whole house, the big, bright room had a very elegant and high-society feel to it. Most of the furniture, including the cabinets, the book-cases, tables, the couch and the armchairs looked antique, except for the few electronic devices scattered around, but those mostly blended in perfectly as well. Before, Hyde had a certain preconception that antique furniture looked cold and uncomfortable. But now, especially since he no longer felt as afraid and lost as he had when he came to this room yesterday, Hyde actually found it to make the room feel warm and cozy. The boy stepped towards the bookshelves that lined one of the walls and slowly walked past them, looking at them and letting his fingers brush over the old and smooth wood they were made of. At the end of the row was the cabinet that, among other things, held the safe that Tetsuya had put Hyde's purchase documents in yesterday.

The wall opposite of the door to the room had huge windows and a heavy grand-piano stood in front of it. Hyde, of course, had noticed it before, but never in the state of mind to pay it any real attention. This time, however, he went closer for a bit, and though he was afraid to touch the instrument, he did wonder about its purpose. Did Tetsuya play? Or his assistant? Perhaps some of the slaves did, and Hyde suddenly wondered if he was expected to have some such skills as well. He didn't, of course: there had never been time in his life for such pursuits. The only skills he had was knowing how to plough or how to milk a cow...

Hyde shook his head and chased the thoughts away. There was no use wondering now, he would simply do whatever he was told to do. This was what he had decided for himself, no matter how much his nature rebelled against it. He simply didn't want to make his life harder by wasting his energy fighting something he had no way of escaping. He told himself he was doing the smart thing like that.

Suddenly not wishing to look at the piano anymore, Hyde whipped around and continued his circular tour of the room by heading towards the next wall, also with huge windows and..

“Hyde? I did not even notice you come in, you're so quiet...”

The slave literally jumped a few millimetres off the ground as he was so startled to hear someone talking, and quickly turned to face the source. Yukihiro was lounging on the couch that Hyde had sat on yesterday, some papers in his hands and glasses on his nose. The position he was in made sure that neither he could see the door into the room, nor someone entering the room would notice him, and Hyde had actually circled perfectly around the couch in a way that up until now, they hadn't been able to see each other. Of course, since he had been reading, the skinny man had been completely quiet and, possibly, absorbed in what he was reading enough that if Hyde _had_ made any noise as he went through the room, he hadn't heard it.

“I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude,” Hyde immediately stuttered out apologetically, his heart still beating rapidly in his chest from the surprise.

“Don't be silly, Hyde, if I hadn't wanted to be disturbed, I would have simply stayed in my room and wouldn't have come to read in the living-room now, would I?” Yukihiro asked softly with an amused smile and Hyde's cheeks heated up, “No, I'm actually glad you came here. In fact I was about to go looking for you soon myself. Tetsuya told me you got your tattoo done today?” the man asked and Hyde nodded.

“He asked me if I could take care of it. It has to be cleaned up a bit a few hours after being done and then I will teach you how to take care of it over the next few days. Come,” he urged, sitting up himself and putting his papers away, “Sit beside me. I already brought the first aid kit in preparation.” 

The skinny man smiled at him brilliantly then and Hyde immediately felt himself relaxing a little. It was really strange how nice all of these people were, and how kindly they treated him despite being slave trainers – people that always held the reputation for being cold and unscrupulous. It almost made it hard to remember why he was there and what actually happened to his life. He knew this would probably soon change, little by little, as his duties became clear to him and things would get demanded from him that would leave no shadow of doubt that he was a slave here, and that while these people were kind, they were still his actual _owners_. 

But for now, Hyde saw no reason why he couldn't let himself just relax and do as told. Quickly, if a bit shyly, he stepped closer to the skinny man and gingerly sat down on the couch beside him, at the spot the man had indicated. Wordlessly, Yukihiro then motioned for him to give him his hand (Hyde had the impression that the a slaver assistant didn't really like talking all that much), and once the boy extended the limb towards him, the older man started carefully undoing the bandage that covered Hyde's wrist. The tiny boy had to bite his lip a little as it truly didn't feel nice and actually a bit painful, especially once the tattoo was completely exposed to the air and Yukihiro started to mutely clean the damaged flesh. The skin was a little swollen and red and covered in some wet stuff that came from the wounded area, but the mark was still clearly visible, his slave number written on his body in clear black ink.

Hyde wanted to look away immediately, he really did. It was still jarring to see this proof of his current stature in the world, making his stomach twist, making him a little sick. But he didn't succumb to the desire – he stared at the tattoo on purpose, trying to take it in and force his mind to accept it. There was no use running from the reality, and the faster he got used to this addition to his body, the better. Not to mention that he had to watch how Yukihiro treated it, so he would be able to do so himself later.

“Once I clean it up well now, the wound should start healing and the wetness that you saw earlier won't appear again, at least not as much – it was just how the body initially reacts to having the skin damaged,” Yukihiro finally spoke up then, putting away his cleaning tools and took out what looked like a potion bottle from the first aid kit, “All you'll have to do, perhaps twice a day, is to take off the bandages and cover the whole area in this ointment,” he said, opening the bottle and getting a swab of cotton, onto which he poured a little bit of the thick liquid from the bottle before starting to carefully move it over the tattoo, “It's something made especially for tattoo treatment, and it does wonders. In a couple of days, the skin should already be healed if still sensitive, and in a week's time you won't feel anything at all anymore. It might still hurt at the beginning though, so I will give you some painkillers just in case that you will be able to take if the pain gets too strong. Other than that, if it starts feeling weird and you start suspecting something is wrong, you should come and inform me or Tetsuya of it immediately. But that usually never happens, so you shouldn't worry.”

Hyde listened to all the information quietly, nodding at the end of the explanation to show that he understood. The ointment cooled the skin on his wrist and the effect didn't lessen after Yukihiro quietly re-wrapped the bandage around it, but it felt soothing and Hyde felt the pain and discomfort lessening by the second. Yukihiro then handed him the first aid kit so he would have the tools he needed to take care of the tattoo later and the boy took it with a soft thanks, feeling uncomfortable and tense again because he didn't really know what he was to do now, and because Yukihiro had left one of his hands on his knee after patting it casually when he finished his treatment. His reaction to the bodily contact didn't go unnoticed.

“You're always very aware of being touched, aren't you?” the skinny man asked with a frown, and Hyde tensed up even more because it sounded like a reprimand, “Tetsu-kun mentioned how he noticed that as well... Is there any particular reason for that?If it simply makes you uncomfortable, it's fine, we'll work through it. It's just better for us to be aware if there's some kind of... traumatic experience in your past that we'll have to deal with.”

Realizing what Yukihiro was asking about, Hyde couldn't help but pale a little and lowered his head after shaking it.

“No, it's... I guess I'm simply not used to it,” he answered timidly and Yukihiro nodded in understanding.

“That's alright, however you will have to try and get used to it pretty fast, for your own sake,” he said, and most likely on purpose didn't withdraw his hand from Hyde's knee, “Let's talk a little. I want to hear about everything you and Tetsuya did today, in detail.”

“Huh?” Hyde asked very eloquently, his confusion about the request apparent.

“I do know most of it already, but I'd like to hear it all from you,” Yukihiro answered, and Hyde realized this was most likely “standard procedure” for slave training as well, “It will help me get to know you to hear your reactions to things and the way you'll choose to tell it,” the skinny man continued explaining, “It's important for me to understand you quickly so we can work well together.”

Hyde nodded in understanding then and, a bit embarrassedly and haltingly, started telling the story. It wasn't exactly pleasant, especially to talk about the making of the tattoo and to explain about the potions that Tetsuya made him drink, and he blushed very strongly when he forced himself to tell the specifics about his visit to Megumi-san's place (Yukihiro asked for details after all). Thus he was actually glad once he was finished but it felt a little weird too. He waited for the assistant's reaction with almost baited breath, feeling as if he was about to hear whether he passed or failed some kind of test. Which was stupid, right? Yukihiro just asked him to talk to get a feel of his character, there hadn't been any requirements he was supposed to meet...

“You omitted the part where you and Tetsuya kissed,” the skinny man pointed out and Hyde froze – first from the surprise that Yukihiro knew about that (Tetsuya probably just told him about it among the other things), and then at the realization that he actually did forget to mention that. And Once he recovered from the surprise of it, he suddenly blushed furiously, “Why was that?”

The older man sounded simply curious and not angry, and that helped Hyde relax. A little. He still gripped the first aid kit in his hands very tightly.

“I...” he started, not really knowing what to say, “It wasn't... on purpose. I just.. I didn't think...” what? That it was relevant? Of course it was, “I'm sorry,” he settled on finally, “It just kind of... slipped my mind. I guess it's a bit too embarrassing for me to remember...” he admitted, and Yukihiro nodded, satisfied with his answer.

“But now that you do remember,” he probed further, “Tell me how did it feel?”

Hyde blushed and felt a little indignant inside. He already had to tell this to Tetsuya, why did he have to talk about it again?

But it was probably just that the older men were trying to make him get used to talking about these things so Hyde just resigned himself to having to speak about such things a lot from now on.

“It uhm... It felt weird and unusual at first but... But it was very nice,” he flushed even more, “A little overwhelming because I've never... I mean, I never kissed anyone before so...”

“So you don't have anything to compare it to?” Yukihiro interrupted him, and Hyde blushed, somehow, even _more_. He would soon be blushing purple if this continued.

“No! I mean, yes, I don't but... It wasn't... I wasn't going to...” Hyde was completely flustered and couldn't manage to speak properly at all anymore, but that just amused Yukihiro who seemed a little mischievous by now. 

“Should I give you something like that then?” the skinny man asked and Hyde's eyes widened in shock and maybe just a little bit of fear.

“What?!” he squealed, and would have blushed further if his face wasn't already at its absolute limits as far as color red went. 

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea right about now,” Yukihiro continued, completely ignoring the boy's surprise and, after squeezing the knee he still had his hand on, he slowly leaned in closer. Hyde stopped breathing and would have probably tried to lean away if his body hadn't been frozen at that point. This had simply gone in a direction he completely had not expected far too quickly, and soon he already felt Yukihiro's slightly dry lips on his own, kissing him just like Tetsuya had a few hours before. Without even thinking about it, Hyde's eyes fluttered closed and he found himself giving into the kiss, remembering his owner's words from last time. He just let the much more experienced than him man guide him through it, starting to relax while the assistant varied the pressure on his lips and opening his mouth shyly when he felt a tongue seeking entrance. Just like it had happened with Tetsuya, Hyde found his breath being stolen away and started feeling dizzy while Yukihiro expertly explored his mouth, licking over every crevice and sucking on his lips. Hyde only managed to move his own tongue a little bit in return, feeling far too overwhelmed again. But it felt... it felt really nice. Just like his kiss with Tetsuya it made his heart speed up and his body tingle from excitement. And as much as the kiss had surprised him in the beginning, now he didn't want it to end. But that was... that was good, right? That's what he would have to do as a slave, just let other people... kiss him whenever they wanted for example so... so it was good to simply give in. Even though it was strange and it felt a bit forbidden and wrong to do it with a man, and he was... surely he was supposed to be too young to enjoy this? Maybe there was something wrong with him? Good boys didn't... they didn't just allow older men ravish their mouths like that, and they didn't... they didn't get so excited from it. Just because he didn't have a choice but to let people do it, didn't mean it was good for him to actually enjoy it. Wasn't it.. wasn't it dirty, and wrong and just...

As his thoughts turned more and more confused, Hyde no longer was able to enjoy the kiss as much as before but it was soon over anyway, leaving the boy gasping for breath and trying to figure out what had just happened. Yukihiro really did kiss differently from Tetsuya, but it had been no less (perhaps grudgingly) pleasurable experience.

“I must say,” Yukihiro spoke up first, chuckling a little, “You really are quite impossible to resist. I don't normally end up kissing the slaves so soon after they get here but... Well, Tetsuya did it first anyway, so he can't complain,” he ended, brushing his fingers over Hyde's heated cheek with a slightly smug smile. Hyde just let out an embarrassed sort of sound, looking down to his lap and the first aid kit that he had clutched in his hands all through the experience. How did this happen so fast? Just one day ago he hadn't even known how kisses worked, and now he has already been kissed by two different men...

“Well, that will be enough for now, I suppose,” Yukihiro said dismissively, “You should probably return to your room and maybe read that book or finally write a letter to your sister,” he commented, and Hyde winced at the reminder that he had yet to do something that would reassure his sister a little, “We'll see each other during dinner. Don't be late,” the skinny man ordered and then simply went back to reading and writing on his papers, leaving Hyde no other choice but to leave, his mind bursting. The talk with Yukihiro surely gave him food for thought at the very least.


	11. Chapter 11

If possible, concentrating on writing the letter today was even harder than it had been yesterday.

Not that there wasn't a clear explanation for that. So much had happened during the day that gave Hyde conflicting emotions and he simply didn't know what he should write. Neither Tetsuya nor Yukihiro told him to keep anything from his sister so he was really free with that, but he actually didn't know what he _wanted_ to let his precious, sensitive sister to know. Sure, a part of him wanted to share everything just so he could get it off his chest by writing it down, but another part wondered if it wasn't better to hide some things just so she wouldn't worry as much or get too sad. But he knew he had to write _something_ by now, simply because she deserved to be informed of his situation. For all he knew, noone even bothered to tell her that he had been bought. Maybe she was still thinking he might be back, waiting for the verdict at the end of the three days. And today _was_ only the third day, Hyde realized suddenly. It felt like it has been both so much longer and shorter than that.

All those doubts and decisions he thought he had to make seemed to pretty much disappear from Hyde's mind, however, as soon as he took up a pen and actually started writing. When the words started flowing, they flowed non-stop, without the boy even consciously deciding on them. He just wrote what his heart told him to write, and only stopped when he had written down everything that he wished her to know, though he did make a conscious effort of making it as light-hearted and optimistic as possible, no matter what he revealed. He had to take a few breaks and sometimes he shuddered when he wrote something he couldn't avoid mentioning that was particularly direct, but still he pressed on. And so not even an hour later (which was pretty fast, considering how unaccustomed to writing Hyde was) his letter was already finished.

_Dear Gina-chan,_

_I am sure you are as surprised to get this letter as I was when I was told I could write it. And first of all I should apologize immediately because I know I should have written to you as soon as I could (which was yesterday evening) to reassure you I was alright, but to be truthful, I simply didn't know how to tell anything to you. I still don't really know now either. But I'm going to try nonetheless._

_As you have probably been told or at least realized yourself by now, I have been bought after all. It was on Friday, around midday, by a man called Tetsuya Ogawa who became my owner and trainer. It is, by now, official in every way: I've read the papers myself, and I had the branding-tattoo made today. Even my name got changed – I am supposed to only be called Hyde from now on. I know none of this is probably something you ever wanted to hear, but I am relieved that it worked out like this and I have already accepted it as well as I could. And you should too, because this is not going to change anymore, no matter what._

_I know this will sound weird and unexpected (or at least it was for me), but Tetsuya-san has been nothing but incredibly nice and kind to me so far. He gives me time to get used to everything and makes sure to explain everything clearly and slowly. He took me shopping too, and got me a lot of nice things so I can live comfortably from now on. The house we live in is huge! I even got my own room, and you wouldn't believe how much food there is during meals. I actually wish you could eat here too, but then again, I'm incredibly happy that you don't have to go anywhere near this place at the same time._

_Other than Tetsuya-san there are also two girls living here that are being trained along-side me, one called May and the other Tia. There is also Yukihiro-san – he works as an assistant to Tetsuya-san and lives here too. Although I have yet to spend much time with any of them, they all seem incredibly nice as well. It is quite weird because I have yet to really feel the change in my status - everyone has been treating me just normally up until now with a few exceptions of people in the city, but they don't even matter to me. Of course, I have been given a list of rules I have to follow, and they will increase with time, but it's nothing too restrictive. Tetsuya-san can be quite strict about some things too, but he is always fair. And actual training will only begin tomorrow, so I'll see how that goes then. But still, don't think I'm just telling you the good things and hiding the bad – it truly is much better than I originally expected here._

_I hope you are doing well yourself. I know you probably feel terribly guilty about this, but I wish you didn't. I understand why you had to take the money, and only wish you would have told me earlier, but it happened how it did and there is no use regretting the past that can't be changed. I am also glad that it is me that they took and not you after all. I know you used the money for me just as much if not more as for yourself, so it is only fair. Besides, I ended up with Tetsuya-san, who is incredibly nice and who knows if you would have been as lucky in my place. This is the best outcome we could have ever hoped for and I only wish you to stop blaming yourself and move on. With me gone and no longer working with you, I hope you'll find a way to manage, and you can't waste time worrying about me. At the very least, you really don't have to worry about the men you borrowed the money from – Tetsuya-san promised to take care that they won't cause you any more grief. I told you that he is incredibly nice, didn't I?_

_I hope you'll find an opportunity to write me back. I was incredibly happy when they told me that I can keep communicating with you like this, even if we can't phone (not that you have a phone, but maybe you could have gone to Kimura-san's house for it) and I don't think you can visit either, so it would be a great loss to not use the opportunity. After all, there is no saying if I'll still be able to write when my training is finished and I go to a new person, so I hope to hear from you while I still can._

_With lots of love,_

_Hyde_

There were still a lot of things that Hyde ended up not mentioning in the letter, and a few topics he had obviously avoided talking directly about, but he figured that for the first letter this was plenty enough as it was. Mostly he had just wanted to inform his sister that he was okay and try to reassure her as best as he could. He also hoped that she would be quick to respond. The more he thought about it the more worried he got about how she was taking it after being left alone, the last of her family taken away from her to who knows where. She was in a pretty bad position herself as it was without even counting her being in shock – Hyde might not have been the biggest worker on the farm, but he did bring in some extra money to the table, and now she would have to somehow make do alone. He wished he could somehow help her, but he knew that this was probably too much to ask, he had got lucky with his situation as it was. So he tried to believe in her and her ability to find a way to survive by herself.

It took him the longest time, in the end, to decide how to sign the letter. He knew his sister would probably be stricken to see the his new name there, and he wanted to just write “Hideto” there, but he figured that this would be counter-productive. His owner had told him that accepting his new name would be a big step towards accepting his new life, and the boy thought it would probably the same for his sister – she had to accept it as well, after all. And by now he realized it really _did_ help him to think of himself as a different person when he used the new name. It had only been a day or so since he started, but weirdly enough, it was already working. His perception of himself shifted just a little bit. The name “Hyde” popped into his mind more naturally already.

He read through the letter a couple more times before folding it and fitting it into the envelope, just to make sure there was nothing he wanted to add – he was uncharacteristically nervous about it, which was a little silly. It was simply a letter to his sister, but it just felt really important that he didn't write something wrong in there this time.

After he had done that, however, he felt lost again. Just what exactly was he supposed to do with the letter now to get it sent? Noone ever gave him any further instructions, so he ended up taking it in his hand and stepping out of his room to see if there was anyone he could ask about it. Luckily, just as he went through the open door, he saw May climbing up the stairs, probably heading towards her room, and since there was no Tetsuya or Yukihiro around, he figured she could talk with him, so he shyly stepped up to her and hesitantly caught her attention.

“Hello, May-senpai?” he addressed her timidly, and she immediately turned to him with a bright smile, her blond curls swishing through the air with the action.

“Yes, Hyde-kun, wasn't it? I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you yet, but I'm sure you understand. We haven't had the chance to get to know each other, but I look forward to it,” she greeted him kindly, “Was there something you needed from me now?”

“I just...” he raised the hand that he had the letter in, “I was told I could write to my sister, but I don't know what to do to get it sent,” h explained awkwardly, and the slightly older girl's eyes widened a little with surprise.

“You have a sister?” she asked curiously, “And you know her? Oh, were you... were you free before?” she asked, her eyes getting a sad look. Hyde simply nodded, “Oh, I've never met anyone who has been... free before. I can't imagine what it's like to... I mean, I always knew this would be my life, so I guess that's a little easier...”

“It's not easy for anyone,” Hyde responded silently, looking down uncomfortably, “At least I was able to live free for a while. I don't think either possibility is better off, really,” he spoke thoughtfully, but then gestured at his letter again, a bit impatiently. He didn't want to seem impolite, but he wanted his sister to get the letter a soon as possible, and the topic of their conversation was making him uncomfortable anyway. He didn't want to think about it. It was _useless_ to think about it, “Anyway, about this?..” he inquired again, and the girl looked a bit startled but then shrugged apologetically.

“I think you need to ask Master Tetsu about it,” she answered, “I've never had anyone I could write to, so... He just came back a few minutes ago and you should be able to find him in his room. You know where that is, or need I show you?” she offered helpfully, but Hyde just shook his head.

“I think I remember where that is. Thank you very much,” he smiled gratefully and then bowed to the girl in thanks a little bit before turning and hurrying down the stairs. He headed for the door that Tetsuya had indicated yesterday to be the one to lead to his room and found it closed, so he lifted his hand and knocked on it, a little fearfully. He hoped it was okay to just come to the man without being called, but since May told him to find the trainer here, it couldn't be bad, right?

“Yes?” he promptly heard a muffled voice from behind the heavy wooden door, and he gulped a little before opening his mouth to answer.

“This is Hyde, Sir,” he announced himself and, after only a second-long delay, he got his permission to enter. He opened the door then and stepped right in, but yelped and almost jumped back when he realized that he caught his owner in the middle of changing his clothes – the older man was shirtless and reaching out for a dress-shirt to put on just as he came in, “'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you,” Hyde apologized immediately, looking at the floor to avoid staring at Tetsuya, “I can come back later.”

As ridiculous as it was, his heart was beating faster in his chest and he felt very embarrassed. He didn't know why he reacted like that – most of the men at the farm worked shirtless on hot days so it was not like he wasn't used to looking at bare skin. But then, none of the men at the farms had intentions to engage in sexual activities with him in the future, nor any of them were, admittedly, as handsome as Tetsuya was. It was weird for Hyde to even notice something like that as he had never paid attention to it before. He always thought he was too young for it. And even now he still didn't really feel actual attraction to the well-sculpted body before him or anything like that, as the idea was too alien to him, but knowing what the future held for him definitely affected his reaction a little.

“What? No, it's fine,” Tetsuya told him, putting the light pink shirt on, but seeming in no hurry to button it up, “It's just really hot outside by now, just like yesterday. I got sweaty so I wanted to change my shirt before going out again. What was it you needed, however?” he asked casually, and Hyde still didn't quite know where to look as the man's upper body was still exposed, but he tried to ignore the embarrassment he felt. It was silly after all, right? His owner didn't even seem to recognize what was bothering him.

“I uhm, wrote the letter to Gina-chan... my sister,” he explained, feeling awkward a he lifted the envelope up to show it again, “But I don't know what to do with it now. I don't even know the address of this place so I couldn't write it,” he finished helplessly. Tetsuya lifted his head up from the shirt he had been putting away to glance at the envelope interestedly. Instead of saying anything about it, however, the man simply approached the boy and reached out to take the letter from him, without preamble taking the paper out of the envelope and unfolding it, apparently intending to read it. Hyde's eyes bulged from shock and he unwittingly let a small sound of protest escape from his throat, making the other man look at him, with an eyebrow raised.

“Is there a problem with me reading it?” he asked, sounding almost amused, “I didn't warn you about it, but you should start getting used to the idea that your privacy will be non-existent from now on. Normally, I would simply not _bother_ invading it by reading your letter, but for now I am curious. It's a good way for me to learn about you from how you write to someone you are most comfortable with, and also allows me to sort of keep surveillance over what you tell her. So I _will_ do this with your letters, at least for a while,” he explained, strictly but at the same time in a rather soft and calming voice. Nevertheless, Hyde's thoughts were racing through the contents of the letter, trying to remember if he wrote anything he shouldn't have or anything embarrassing, but in the end just nodded his head submissively. There was nothing like that as far as he could remember.

“It... It's okay,” he whispered, “I just didn't expect this. Of course you can read it,” he said acquiescently, and Tetsuya nodded approvingly at him not trying to protest it anymore.

“Good. Now take a seat while I read.”

The taller man indicated the neatly-made bed as he said that, going back to sit on it himself, and patted a spot right beside him. Understanding it as Tetsuya showing him where exactly he wanted him to sit, Hyde walked over and gingerly sat down, startling when he felt a hand settling around his lower back, a palm coming to rest on the hip on his other side while Tetsuya seemingly started reading.

“You seem to have problems with being touched, and that is the first issue we need to address since it is really important,” the man commented on it almost absentmindedly, and Hyde remembered Yukihiro telling him the exact same thing earlier, “Try to get used to it as me and Yukki will probably be touching you often when we can just so you learn to accept it, little by little.” Having said that, the other man fell silent again and concentrated on reading, leaving Hyde to just fidget in his seat as he waited for him to finish.

He had never really noticed that he had problems with being touched before. It was just the combination of him simply not being used to being touched, not _expecting_ it, and the fact that he was hyper-aware of it when it came from Tetsuya of Yukihiro, since he knew where it all would ultimately lead to. Now that his attention was drawn to it, especially, he did realize it made him feel uncomfortable and tense up. He couldn't help it. He no longer even worried about Tetsuya reading the letter, his whole being was concentrated on being aware of the hand around him, and the warmth of it seeping in through his clothes. It just stayed there, unmoving, doing nothing, but the more time passed, the more nervous and tense about it Hyde became. It felt uncomfortable and his thoughts were swirling in his head almost violently fast. The thoughts and feelings that the boy hadn't even really known he had, the feelings he thought he had pushed away by now: he didn't want that touch. It didn't feel bad, no. It almost felt nice, but he had never asked for it and he wasn't ready for it. Just like he hadn't asked for those kisses from before. He was just a kid, why did he have to do this? He never wanted this, why did he have to force himself to accept it? Why did they have to touch him so much already, couldn't they just leave him alone for a bit?

“Easy now, just breathe slowly, calm down,” he was suddenly pulled back from his thoughts by the soft and calming voice of his Master, realizing he had driven himself into a kind of panic with his thoughts as he was breathing shallowly but rapidly and shaking quite strongly. The hand was now on his back, rubbing it soothingly, and Tetsuya's warm brown eyes were once more focused on him instead of the letter. _Completely_ focused on him, worried, making him feel like he was the only person in the world, the only thing that mattered to the older man right then, “Here you go, it's going to be okay. Just breathe and relax, don't think about it,” the soft voice continued and Hyde felt his body slowly obeying it, the tremors subsiding.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...” he trailed off, having to take another deep shaky breath suddenly and to his horror realizing he had tears in his eyes, one of which slid down his cheek and he rushed to wipe it off, “I don't know why I'm suddenly reacting this way...”

“It's just overwhelming, I know. Everything is finally catching up with you, and it's scary and you can't deal with it,” Tetsuya's voice soothed him gently, “It's okay, I was wondering when this will happen. But you need to work through it with me Hyde,” he continued while Hyde harshly wiped away a few more tears. Why couldn't he just stop them from falling already? “I know it seems terrible, but I can help, just listen to me. You can trust me, Hyde. You _do_ trust me right?”

The question jolted him again, surprising him. Trust? Wasn't it too soon to ask for something like that? How could he trust someone he barely knew, someone who just bought him on the market because he thought he looked pretty enough and would make him a nice profit?

But even as he thought that, he felt how breathing slowly became easier again and he realized that despite all logic, he did, in fact, trust his owner already. Yes, the man bought him with obvious intentions, but he treated him fairly, explained everything and hid nothing. He let him know what to expect and promised to get him ready for it at his pace. He had turned the situation Hyde was in from seemingly absolutely hopeless and terrifying into one that he knew he could more than just cope with. _That_ was how much Tetsuya had already given Hyde. So didn't it make sense for Hyde to at least give trust in return to him?

“Yes,” the boy sniffled quietly, “I do.” And he meant it.

“Then try to do as I say,” Tetsuya murmured, “Don't do yourself the discourtesy of dwelling on it too much and repeating in your head how unfair it is or that you never wanted this. Yes, it's all true, but you can't change it just by hating it. People often end up having duties or leading the lives they've never wished for, and it's just the same thing for you now, even if it's a more extreme case. But the only way to deal with it is to accept it, to look for the good sides of it instead of brooding over the bad. Think of the things you enjoy, like the fact that you get delicious food here or got your own room. You wrote here that you liked that, didn't you?” the older man asked, gesturing at the letter, and Hyde felt a small embarrassed smile curl on his lips despite himself as he nodded in agreement, “See, that's a much better topic to think about it. And me touching you doesn't even feel that bad either, does it? I know you never asked for it, but why not think of it as something I want to show you because it is pleasant? We don't always have to ask for what we get from other people, but that doesn't automatically make those things bad, right?”

Once again, Hyde felt himself nodding. The unexpected attack of anxiousness seemed to be abating and he no longer felt anywhere near as tense as before, his owner's words working as intended. The ways he had reasoned with himself to accept the change of his situation were coming back to his mind, and worked just as well as before. This was not all bad, and his sister was safe. He should be proud of himself, and even feel thankful to Tetsuya who took interest in him instead of leaving him for some other, less kind handler to pick him up. He was lucky. Not as lucky as to be born into a nice, rich family with no worries, and not as lucky as not having his sister be pushed into borrowing money to support them, but he was just lucky enough to end up in this beautiful house right now, with an owner that treated his slaves nicely and gave them everything they needed.

“Thank you,” he whispered weakly, straightening up a bit and feeling the hand slide back down his back and still on his hip, “I feel alright now again. You should... I mean, you don't need to worry and can continue reading if you... if you want to,” he said, stumbling over his words. He didn't know how to say what he wanted without making it sound like he thought he was “allowing” his owner to do what he wanted, but he hoped it was okay. Tetsuya smiled indulgently at him as if he knew exactly what was on his mind then, but let it go.

“I will do that when. Just remember, whenever you start feeling like this again, just think back to what I told you now. And if it gets really bad, you can always come to me as well. Understood?”

Hyde nodded.

This time when the room fell into silence while the slave trainer read, the boy no longer let himself get lost in depressing thoughts. He still was very aware of the hand around him, but he allowed himself to feel the gentleness and the warmth in the touch instead, and sunk against it willingly soon. This was his owner's arm, he told himself. No matter what, Tetsuya owned him now, and that was okay, because Tetsuya was nice. So the man could touch him, and he could enjoy it. He was even _supposed_ to enjoy it when Tetsuya did what he wanted – that was his duty now. And it wasn't too hard. He used to be happy whenever he made Gina-chan happy with something or whenever it looked like his sister was enjoying something, it was just natural because he cared for her. This was a bit similar to that, just done a bit more consciously for now. But he could get used to it. He knew it. Tetsuya was nice, and he was his owner, and it felt good to give people he liked what they wanted.

Without even meaning to, Hyde now had a barely noticeable smile on his face, making him look content, if not yet happy.

“I said that visits are hard to arrange, not that they are completely forbidden,” Tetsuya commented suddenly, and the smaller man realized his owner was done with reading the letter and now making remarks about what he read, “So your sister might be able to visit in the future some time, but I'll make no promises. It would be a bit later anyway, right now would be too soon and too distracting for you,” he explained, and Hyde felt his heart flutter in excitement. Sure, he understood that Tetsuya had given him no promises and it might not happen after all, but the fact alone that he _might_ , actually, still see his sister some day and not only write to her was incredibly precious to him.

“Reading this reminded me that you should be given some general lessons” the slave trainer continued, thoughtfully, making the boy look back up at him with curiosity, “It's not some kind of reprimand to you as it's not your fault you never got to go to school, just a general observation. Your writing skills are passable, but it would be good to improve them, just in case any of your future Masters would require you to write for them... Same goes for general knowledge. You might never actually need it, but it doesn't hurt to improve your education if we have a chance. We should be able to spare at least an hour or so every day during the couple of months or so that you'll stay in training... Probably should include some basic computer skills as well, it's not like you would have anything like that either...”

The older man was talking mostly to himself then, but Hyde listened closely, hungry for every little bit of information regarding his training as he wanted to know what to expect. All that Tetsuya was mentioning right now actually sounded like fun to the young boy: he truly never had the chance to learn much, and he had always been interested in various things and getting an opportunity to know more about the world was something he could look forward to.

Tetsuya was, of course, also right about the fact that he knew nothing about computers. Sklabitia was just clearly divided like that – the rich had all the latest advancements of technology at their fingertips while most of the small folk lived as if a couple of centuries in the past. Horses instead of cars, for some – even candles instead of light-bulbs. Hyde's family was lucky enough to have some electricity in their house, enough to not live in the dark at least, and plumbing was no longer primitive so he was used to working a shower, but little else. Kimura-san from two houses over was the only one with a landline connected to his home in the whole block that they lived in. People were aware of it, of course, and noone crossed themselves at seeing cars and proclaimed them to be “devil's machinery” or confused them with magic, but they couldn't even dream of affording any of it. It was ridiculous, two different eras mixing together, but it didn't seem like it would change any time soon.

“I'll just have to remember that when planning your training schedule,” Tetsuya was talking in the meantime, “For now let me tell you our address so you can write it down and we'll finally finish up this letter business. I'll deliver it myself this time as I'm heading that way to sort things out with your previous employer anyway. Go sit at my desk, there's a pen there so you can write it down,” the man urged and Hyde sprung up to do as told, finally feeling that hand drop away from his hip when he hurried to the table. In his mind, he wondered what exactly Tetsuya had to visit Kurimoto-sama for and if this meant the slave trainer would actually meet his sister, but he held back from asking about it. He knew by now after all – if his owner wanted him to know, he would tell him himself.


	12. Chapter 12

Despite owning two cars, Tetsuya barely ever drove them. It was a pity since he actually enjoyed driving a lot, but with his home being within walking distance from the city center and not many other opportunities to get some exercise aside from walking to the places he needed to go to (and sex, he supposed, but he was not about to rely on sex only to keep his body in shape), he ended up only picking up his car keys every once in a couple of weeks or so.

Today was one of those rare occasions. The address that was written on the papers he received during the transaction when he bought Hyde was on the other side of the huge city, and he still wanted to be back home in time for dinner, meaning in just a couple of hours, so going by car it was.

The drive didn't turn out to be as relaxing an experience as he had come to expect it to be. There were too many thoughts milling in his head, most of them, unsurprisingly, circling around his newest purchase. He had taken a risk buying the boy. Not that he had any doubt about the boy's potential as a slave and the profit he could bring in, but rather because he knew that he took on a task that was vastly different from any he had taken on before. The small “crisis” during their latest conversation reminded him of it in the most obvious way possible – not only was Hyde male and one of the youngest he had ever bought before, he was also the first slave Tetsuya had in his care who had lived free up until a couple of days before. Someone who still remembered what it was like to have your own plans for the future, someone who had yet to make peace with their new reality.

That didn't discourage him however. On the contrary, the more it seemed like it would be difficult, the more excited about it the slave trainer became. Today went so well after all. He had never had to deal with such a panic attack before, but it appeared that he had been able to say the right thing and that gave him a boost of self-confidence. Something he would probably need.

This trip to speak with Hyde's ex-employer to take care of terminating the contract because of the change of the boy's status was also something he had never had to do before, but it was only one more task in a whole slew of others that the young slave trainer had had to take care of today in regards to Hyde. The whole first half of the day had been spent shopping, obviously, but he also had to pay a visit to the registry office to tie up the few left-over loose ends of bureaucratic nonsense (and waste an infuriating amount of time in queues for it), check in with a few of the places he had temporary employment agreements with to see if they were okay with a change of the gender of a slave he would later on be sending in to work there and, finally, the least favorite of his – file a complaint to the police department about the men that sold the boy to get more than their due of money. That was something he knew would take ages to solve through, but at least he made the first step already and now had to wait for a response from the authorities before he could act further.

His first stop now, however, was at Hyde's and his sister's house... thought one could hardly even call it that. It was no more than a small hut in a neighborhood of residences that were all in about the same, worrisome state. Tetsuya was even careful not to knock on the door too strongly, though logically he knew the shack would have collapsed ages ago if it really were as brittle as it seemed. He didn't know how he felt about possibly meeting his new slave's actual sister, but he ended up not having to find out. There was no response to his knock as it seemed the girl was not at home. Probably at work, really. Even if she was shocked and distressed with what recently happened to her brother, she probably couldn't have afforded any days off. Tetsuya ended up simply putting the envelope into the rusted metal mailbox and leaving, but not before noticing a few heads poking out of the windows of a few close-by houses, all of them staring at him and the car he had arrived in.

Now Keiji Kurimoto, the noble owner of the huge plantation most of these people worked in, lived in much better conditions. His house stood on a small hill on the edge of his vast lands, overlooking them, at least twice as big as Tetsuya's own home. The slave trainer hated the sort of people like this the most: he might be the one actually trading in slaves, but at least he was honest about it. People like Kurimoto made sure their employees' lives were even worse than those of actual slaves yet expected nothing but praise for giving livelihood to so many regular people depending on such menial jobs as they required to be done. Nevermind that they paid minimum wages and then made sure to rent out places for them to live at a rate that was barely below what the earned, thus getting most of their money (minus the taxes, obviously) back. It was people like Kurimoto Keiji that made it so easy for people such as the ones that loaned Hyde's sister money to prey upon the poor. They were the ones that made impossible, decades after decades, for this huge gap between different society layers of Sklabitia to ever be closed.

And yet here Tetsuya was, with no choice but to go talk with the man and probably even pay some compensation money for severing a contract before it expired. He couldn't wait to be done with it already.


	13. Chapter 13

Since his owner left still without giving him any instructions about what to do, Hyde ended up going back to his room and picking up the book on table etiquette again as Yukihiro had suggested to him, hoping to get a little bit more ready for this day's dinner when it came. He really wasn't the fastest of readers, but he tried to work on _that_ at the same time, remembering Tetsuya's comment on how he should improve his reading and writing skills, and time seemed to fly by when he was busy. Before he knew it, he had to go down to the dining room for dinner again. His owner was back by then as well and Tia seemed to be the one responsible for dinner today as the older of the girls was sitting at the table when Hyde entered the room this time.

He was far less nervous tonight. The faces around the table were much more familiar to him by now, and his reading seemed to pay off as he was no longer as much at a loss when facing the myriad of forks before him on the table. There was less shock at seeing all the food too, as well as less worry about being kicked away from the table for eating too much. So in general, he was able to enjoy the affair and taste the actual food much better without all the distractions.

There wasn't any talking this time at all. At least not for Hyde – Tetsuya and Yukihiro were silently discussing some kind of business issues, but that was it and Hyde couldn't even hope to understand any of that. When the dinner was over, however, Tetsuya did finally come up to the young boy again and told him to expect him in his room in a few minutes before walking away, presumably heading for his own room. Not quite knowing what he should expect, Hyde went upstairs and entered his room. Each time he did that today, he had to remind himself not to close the door, remembering the rule regarding that. He didn't quite understand what its purpose was, but he assumed it had something to do with getting him used to not seeking out privacy or maybe just not hiding anything. In any case, he wasn't about to question it.

Not knowing how much he would have to wait other than that it shouldn't be too long, Hyde found himself nervously passing time by making sure that everything in his room was tidy and in order. But the only thing out of place was the book he had been reading which he quickly put back onto the desk. He was admittedly anxious – he wanted to know how Tetsuya's visit at his home went, if he met his sister and whether or not he delivered the letter (though he told himself it was silly to even doubt _that,_ considering the older man had promised to). But he didn't even know whether he a allowed to ask about it. And he was so absorbed with such thoughts right then that, despite having been waiting for him, he ended up getting truly startled when his owner finally stepped into his room.

“Did I interrupt something?” Tetsuya asked with bubbling amusement in his voice as he noticed the slave's scattered-mindedness, and Hyde hurried to shake his head mutely as he observed the slave trainer approach his bed-side table and deposit a few items onto it that he couldn't quite make out from this angle, “Answer out loud when asked, Hyde,” Tetsuya reminded him with a soft reprimand in his voice, “Even when the conversation is not serious.”

“Uhm, no Sir,” Hyde spoke up guiltily, “I was just lost in my thoughts, that's all.”

“And what thoughts would those be?” the man inquired with light curiosity, and Hyde almost literally jumped at the opportunity. Sure, normally he wasn't allowed to be too demanding for information and was rather supposed to wait for his owner to impart with any off his own will, but now that Tetsuya asked him about it, he was actually _required_ to answer, right?

“I was wondering if you got to see my sister, Sir,” the boy revealed eagerly, barely managing to keep his eyes down, “I just really wish to know how she's doing...”

Tetsuya smiled sympathetically at him, but shook his head.

“She was out when I came by the house. I ended up just leaving the letter there. I'm sure she'll write you back soon, however,” he told him with a slightly apologetic note in his voice, but refused to dwell on it, “I did manage to wrap up all my business with Kurimoto-san, so you might be happy to hear we managed to settle the issue of your contract getting canceled prematurely. Now, come over here to the bed, there's a few things I want to do,” he urged and, although without a doubt disheartened a little by the news, Hyde immediately obeyed and came closer. Tetsuya sat down on the edge of the bed and gestured for him to follow suit. The smaller man couldn't help but tense up a little as he expected to be touched again now, but the older man rather reached out towards the nightstand and picked up one of the items he brought with him from it. Hyde recognized it as the round, wrapped up package that his owner got from the jewelry story during their trip to the city that morning, but just like then, he still had no idea what hid under the brown wrapping paper.

“Can you guess what this is?” Tetsuya asked casually, holding up the package. The boy shook his head but then remembered to reply out loud as well.

“No, Sir,” he whispered hastily.

“It is one more incredibly important thing when it comes to establishing your new status, like the tattoo, like the papers...” the older man explained serenely, starting to unwrap the package slowly, “Every time you get a new Master, they will gift you with their own replacement of this, and it will be the most obvious sign of who owns you for everyone to see. For the next few months while you'll be trained by me, you will wear mine. And despite how reluctant you might be, for now, to _appreciate_ its significance, you must treasure and take care of it. Wearing this will give you a place in this world, and afford you protection. In fact, it is something that will hold your whole identity.”

At this point, the brown paper had been removed and Hyde could only stare at the dark leather collar that was revealed. It positively glowed with how new it was, obviously specially made, crafted elegantly and impeccably. Black leather lined with a silver thread and a metal plate at the front with clearly engraved words:

_Hyde  
Property of Tetsuya Ogawa._

The boy's head spun and he suddenly felt dizzy, his stomach churning. He thought that he was over it by now, but apparently he wasn't. It was still overwhelming to read those words stated so directly. His breathing quickened and he was about to slip into panic again, but then there was a heavy hand on his shoulder, anchoring him, and Hyde managed to pull himself up mentally again, repeating the same things that always worked in making him feel that it was all worth it. That it was okay, that it would be okay. At least as long as it was Tetsuya guiding him into this, the man he had learned to trust. The man he promised himself to surrender to.

“Better?” Came an unexpected question, and Hyde's head snapped up to stare at the other, who apparently knew exactly what just happened. Hyde suddenly realized that they've sat in silence for at least a few minutes by now, but Tetsuya had apparently waited patiently for him to take hold of his reaction and emotions, only putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly to help him. It was almost unbelievable how understanding the slave trainer was sometimes.

“Yes,” Hyde answered him honestly. His heart was still beating fast, but the surge of emotions was away again.

“Good,” the older of them nodded, taking his hand away and holding up the collar again. Hyde could now look at it much more calmly, “Collaring a slave, especially for the first time, is probably an even more... involving and private act than buying or marking them is. Some people love to create whole ceremonies around it, and it's understandable, given the significance. But I prefer a rather humble exchange of vows, if you will. I _will_ be putting this on you now. And in doing that, I will claim you completely. Once it is on, it can only be removed by me and noone else,” Tetsuya explained seriously, undoing the clasp to get ready to put it around Hyde's neck. The boy gulped but followed it all attentively with his eyes, and he could swear he could _feel_ the magic radiating from the item, making sure that what Tetsuya said now was not just empty words, but reality enforced by it, “But as I'll put it on, it will also come to signify my promise to protect you, and guide you, and care for you in a way that only a Master can. Not only is it a symbol of you belonging to me, but also of me being aware of my duties to you, of me taking full responsibility for you.”

Hyde felt a bit like tearing up, and he was not exactly sure for what reason. Because he was sad? Because he was angry about how his life had turned out, how it led to this moment where he was being collared, not unlike a dog? Or maybe because he was touched by the unexpected kindness this man was showing to him. How even as he took his humanity away, he continued to treat him like a human? Was he really that ridiculous, that young and naïve to be taken in by something so small in the face of something so big and life-shattering? Because right now, he truly felt like he was being given something instead of having everything taken away as it really was. And he couldn't stop that feeling even if he tried.

“But this needs to be two-sided,” Tetsuya was still speaking in the meantime, “Do you agree to accept this and try to make the best of your situation despite never asking to be in it, Hyde? Do you promise to surrender to me earnestly and obey to the best of your abilities, to make an effort to learn what I teach you. Do you submit your will and body to me, and become my slave in every meaning of the word, in mind and soul?”

The moment felt so heavy Hyde almost felt like he was about to break under it. Tetsuya was only whispering, but his voice sounded incredibly loud to the boy right then. Of course, there was no fooling anyone: Hyde didn't _really_ have a choice, there was no decision for him to make here. No matter how well-wishing and kind his owner was, if he were to refuse, to say that he would never willingly submit, Tetsuya would simply put the collar on him anyway, and he would be forced to wear it through the duration of his training regardless. He would simply disappoint the older man and make his life harder if he tried to rebel. That was the one truth that Tetsuya had been telling him the whole time, the one advice he had given him right after bringing him home. Fight, cling to your freedom, and you will only go insane. Submit, and get a chance to live a carefree and pleasurable life, even if it is one in captivity.

No, Tetsuya was not giving him a choice right now. He was giving him an opportunity to pledge (to _himself_ even more than to his owner) that he would give in and won't fight pointlessly. To strengthen his intention to choose the path that would make his life easier in his mind.

“I... I promise,” he finally swore tremblingly, but Tetsuya didn't lift the collar to his neck yet as he had expected.

“I need you to say it,” he urged him further, and Hyde was about to argue that he just did, but the man continued, “You need to say the words yourself. Tell me _what_ you are promising.”

That was a difficult demand, and Hyde sunk into silence for a minute again. He mulled over his own thoughts of before and remembered what Tetsuya had asked him to promise while he searched for appropriate words. Then he looked up into Tetsuya's eyes, finding it fitting to do so on this occasion. Despite the rule that told him to try not to, he felt sure that the older man agreed it was right to do so right now. Then he finally opened his mouth again.

“I promise to accept my life as your slave as well as I can,” he ended up saying quite simply but wholeheartedly, somehow not even stumbling over the word “slave” though it was probably the first time he referred to himself loudly as one, “I accept the collar as a symbol of me belonging to you.”

His owner smiled at him warmly after he was finished, obviously approving of his choice of words, and finally lifted the collar to his neck. Hyde found himself sub-consciously stretching it out to offer it up properly while the man fitted the leather around it and then with deft fingers fixed it in place.

It immediately felt weird to have it there. It wasn't really tight - just tight enough to be always felt, making it impossible to forget it was there. And that was probably on purpose, so he would always be aware of its presence and thus also of its significance. Hyde's hand rose to his neck to follow the stripe of leather around it curiously, and he closed his eyes, concentrating on letting his mind wrap around the new addition. Not that there was any real hurry. He had time to get used to it – it would stay there forever, after all.


	14. Chapter 14

Tetsuya knew it was a wasteful gesture, and probably not even noticed or appreciated. Since the very beginning when he had just started in this business, he would get a new collar for every slave he bought and trained instead of keeping a few generic ones like most trainers did, with no names on them, only _his_ as the owner's. He couldn't let the little ones keep them as a reminder of their training and him after new, even fancier collars came to adorn their necks, courtesy of their new Masters. Actual Masters. So he kept them himself, as reminder of his past charges. Useless sentimentality, perhaps, but he liked knowing that he kept _all_ of them in his memory. Making sure they continued to matter to at least to one person instead of coming and passing in this life as nothing but a passing commodity for people who rarely came to care for them.

Sometimes, it paid off. It happened only a couple of times in his whole career, but sometimes he ended up using the collars again after finding the ones he had trained before in the Market again, sold to be re-trained before changing Masters after the earlier ones got bored of them. So he'd take them in once more and mold them anew, made them just perfect to the specific tastes of a different customer this time.

As he looked at Hyde's face while the boy quietly adjusted to having the leather around his throat, he couldn't help but wonder if he would be one of those that returned to him. He was fated to be resold at least a few times in his life, after all, considering the fact that the clientele he currently appealed to the most would only like him for a few years at most before wanting another young, fresh one to replace him with.

“I'm glad you accepted it so well,” he spoke up when finally, after a few minute, Hyde's eyes fluttered open again, the brown of them looking calmer once more, “Keep cooperating so well, and you won't regret it. It will make sure everything will go much more smoothly for you,” he promised, meaning the words from his heart. The boy was being clever, very clever. The rare bouts of panic and sadness he of course couldn't help. That was only expected so soon after becoming a slave and not yet being used to the idea. But when he was in control of his emotions, he chose to listen and take his owner's advice, realizing that fighting would get him nowhere. Tetsuya was thankful for that. It was always much harder when he had to use force to break his trainees mentally than when they gave in voluntarily. And they always regretted it in the end, when they realized how useless it had been.

“This was not the only thing I wanted to do tonight, however,” the older man continued, “Now that you have your collar, your training has truly begun and we need to start teaching you things already. It will be an intense time for you, Hyde, and tiring, even if I try to move at the pace you should be able to accept everything in. There is a lot to learn a lot of things to get used to, some truly deeply ingrained habits that you'll have to work on changing. And I already told you what is the first issue we need to address, do you remember?”

The boy nodded.

“Touching,” he replied with a single word as if it explained everything, and it did.

“Exactly,” Tetsuya nodded, reaching out to turn on the small lamp on the bedside table, “Turn off the other light,” he ordered then, and as Hyde rose from the bed to do that, he reached out for the other items he had brought with himself tonight, “Once your Master gets you, they will expect any number of things from you. Whatever it is, whether it is cleaning the floor, cooking, or acting out the role of a secretary and taking dictation, your one and only duty – even your only _wish_ by then – will be to carry out their every order,” he spoke evenly while he lit up the scented candle (for the sake of, hopefully, it helping to relax the boy), barely paying attention when Hyde returned to his side after turning off the light and sat back down, “But no matter what different needs any Master might have of you, your biggest and _main_ duty will always be to fulfill their bodily desires. No matter who gets you, that's the one thing that always remains constant. Thus obviously, accepting touch from other people is incredibly important. You need to make people feel like their touch is welcome, even encourage it more with your body language. Tensing up even the smallest bit is unacceptable because it is the opposite of what you need to do.”

He was pleased to see that Hyde was listening to everything he said attentively, even of it was really new and obviously made the boy uncomfortable. But still, he accepted it and didn't have the reaction that some had – tensing up and looking ready to bolt, ready to do everything they could to avoid letting his words turn into reality.

“This is why we need to work on it, and I think I thought of the perfect way to start. I need you to undress for this, but don't be afraid. I promised I'll be easing you into these things slowly and that hasn't changed. You don't need to fear anything. Just take off your clothes and lie down on the bed. You can even keep your underwear on. At least for now,” he explained as calmingly as he could and though the boy still seemed a bit tense, he didn't start freaking out and rather slowly nodded and started to undress. It was fine like that – if everything worked the way he planned it, then this would be the perfect thing to make the tension disappear.

Just like last time in the beauty salon, Tetsuya didn't look away even for a second while Hyde rid himself of the clothes. There were conflicted emotions inside him as he watched the smaller man. Not because it was against his morals to gaze upon someone as young as Hyde was or anything like that – he was far beyond that. Probably almost everyone in this country was. No, it had more to do with the fact that Hyde's body was, in fact, obviously still one of a child, whereas otherwise he often appeared to be so intelligent and mature that Tetsuya often found himself calling him a man already. The two different sides of the boy made things slightly confusing, but nevertheless, the slaver found himself appreciating it. In the end, it all could work very much in his benefit after all.

Hyde's hands first shot up to clumsily take off his shirt, and once it was off the boy shuddered even though it was by far not cold in the room. His pants followed and he hurried to fold his clothes then before putting them away, probably remembering Tetsuya's insistence that he be neat yesterday. That was another good sign – Hyde didn't seem to require much repeating, he learned from a single remark already.

The slave trainer let his gaze lazily travel over the exposed golden skin while Hyde moved back to the bed then, crawling past the older man to lie down in the middle. He looked awkward as soon as he settled, however, obviously lost about what to expect or even where to put his hands which he was twisting, absent-mindedly, together. Tetsuya decided to take pity on him and not make him wait long before telling him what were his exact plans for the evening.

“Since this is all about getting you lose the tension, I figured I would do something the purpose of which _is_ to relax,” he said, reaching for the night-stand one more time and picking up the last of the items – a bottle, not completely unlike the ones that held the potions Hyde had drunk earlier that day. But the liquid inside this one was not for such consumption. Tetsuya uncorked it and inhaled the sweet smell that released from it, mixing with the one of the candle that was already filling the room, “I'll be giving you a massage. A whole body one, so I _will_ be touching you everywhere. But as long as you don't fight against it, you should enjoy it.”

Hyde's facial expression was a mix of relief and apprehension once he heard that, but Tetsuya fancied there was more of the former one than of the latter. Apparently having to become almost naked had the boy pretty spooked after all. The slaver shifted onto the bed himself then, settling over the boy's body with his legs straddling the lithe abdomen before he upturned the massage-oil bottle over the palm of his free hand. The liquid wasn't cold at all, but Tetsuya did take a few moments to warm it up more between his palms as he coated both of them. Only once he was satisfied with that did he focus his attention downwards, laying his hands onto the boy's tensed up chest. 

“Just put them down at your sides,” he commented, referring to Hyde's arms that the boy was shifting around, trying to find a good position for them, obviously just looking for a distraction from what was happening. That would not do – the boy was tensing up more again, “Close your eyes and just try to relax. It's just me, just my hands, I'm not doing anything bad. Let yourself feel it, but don't think yourself into a frenzy over it. Allow yourself to enjoy it.”

His hands started moving while he talked, slowly, languidly kneading the flesh under his palms, seeking out the knots of tension in the boy's shoulders and rubbing circles over the muscular chest. Slowly, his touches expanded, more and more of the boy's delectable body starting to glisten with the oil under the dim light of both the candle and the tiny lamp. Like Tetsuya had advised, Hyde had his eyes closed and arms stiff at his sides. But little by little, his petite form became pliant under his touches, the tension evaporating from the muscles Tetsuya was working on. He lifted the boy's arms, one by one, and massaged them too, inch after inch, leaving no spot except for the bandaged wrist untouched, stopping only when he wanted to get more oil from the bottle.

It would usually be the other way around, a slave working to relax their Master, but Tetsuya paid little attention to such so-called roles. He was getting enjoyment out of touching the slave like this, and wasn't that all that mattered, the owner getting pleasure in any way he wished to? Hyde's skin was soft under his palms, the flesh smooth and never once explored by any man before, responsive without it being intentional or fake at all. The massage seemed to work in the way it was intended to – Hyde had let himself go, surrender into it, and was now reacting to it in the most natural, innocent ways possible. He never said a word, but every once in a while a small, pained whimper would escape him when Tetsuya worked through a particularly hard knot (he was a child, he was not supposed to be so stressed out to have any of these, Tetsuya thought to himself with a frown), making the older male smile secretly. This was much easier than he could have hoped. Hyde had troubles with being touched before, big ones, that was true. But like with everything else, he was a quick learner. He only had to be told how to do things once. And considering he also found it in himself to trust Tetsuya, he was accepting the man's touch as easily as that already. 

He moved himself downwards after he deemed he had worked in one place for long enough. He lingered on the taut stomach much shorter, only enough to spread the scented oil over it and make it glisten just as much as the skin he touched before did, and then his hand slid to the boy's legs. It was more difficult there – Hyde would tense up just a small bit again whenever he touched too high on his inner thighs, but the slave trainer ignored it. He purposefully kept the whole thing from becoming too sexual – that was not his intention for tonight. Something like that would still have to wait longer.

When he was finally down to the last toe, Tetsuya sat back and looked up to gaze upon the figure sprawled out in front of him. Hyde's whole body was limp and the only movement one could notice was the steady rise and fall of his chest while he continued to breathe – tanned and oiled as he was, in the dim light of the lamp, the boy truly looked golden.

One could almost mistake the slave for having fallen asleep, but Tetsuya knew better than that. Despite how successfully everything was going tonight, the boy could not possibly yet feel secure enough in front of him to fall asleep like that. It was progress enough already that he looked so peaceful right now as it was. But they were not finished yet.

“I need you to turn over now, little one,” Tetsuya spoke low and softly, “And I would like you to take off your underwear too this time.”

He expected the tension to flood back into the slave's form immediately at those words, but he was pleasantly surprised. The absolute peacefulness did evaporate quickly, but there was barely any tension back. In its stead, there was obvious shy embarrassment giving the golden skin a tinge of red now, but Hyde did move to obey the order, saying nothing in protest. If this were happening a little further along their training, Tetsuya would have been unsatisfied with Hyde's lack of agreeable words, but right now, he easily let it slide. Everything would come in due time.

It would have obviously been much easier for Hyde to take off his underwear and then turn around, but the acute embarrassment the boy was feeling was most likely to blame for his decision to do it the other way around. He carefully removed his boxers after already rolling onto his belly, probably to avoid baring his naked front to his owner, and Tetsuya could do little else but snicker at it under his breath. It was not like he couldn't see almost everything like this anyway, and he wasn't about to complain when this meant he could still look at the boy's perky round ass to his heart content. But, he supposed, as long as it gave the younger one some peace of mind...

After getting some more oil, Tetsuya resumed the massage again, this time choosing to work his way upwards instead. The rather familiar motions were making him relax as much as they removed the tension from the boy, really. His hands slid up and down the bronze calves, his fingers varying their pressure with each expert stroke, and he relished in this opportunity as it was actually the first time he could explore every last inch of his new slaves body so fully, taking in every last detail not only with his eyes,, but his touch as well. The calves led the way to the back of Hyde's knees and then thighs again, and Tetsuya made sure to spend enough time on each part, not begrudging any number of minutes just to make sure he worked on every last muscle long enough for it to go lax under his touch.

From the hips he, on purpose, jumped back up to work on Hyde's shoulders from the back, digging his fingers almost painfully sometimes, using the heels of his hands whenever appropriate. He went over the arms quickly again, just for good measure, and the back followed close behind that. He could feel a tingling sort of anticipation mix in with the sweet scents in the air surrounding them by then, although he was not sure if it also came from Hyde or just himself. He could admit to, perhaps pettily enough, saving the opportunity to grope the boy's ass for last. An understanding trainer or not, he was still a man after all, and he had his weaknesses. He was just lucky enough that it was actually his _job_ to indulge in them. Not that there was really an excuse he needed for doing what he wanted.

Logically, there wasn't really anything much he needed to relax at this part of Hyde's body, but he let his hands slide over the round globes of the boy's buttocks regardless, rubbing them, varying his strength again. Hyde didn't get uptight again even now, and at this point Tetsuya took it as proof that the evening had been the best kind of success he could have ever hoped for.

His circular movement brought the two ass-cheeks together, only to later spread them apart again, repeating the motions in turns. Each time that happened, Tetsuya got a better glimpse at the tiny hole hidden between them, and he would have lied if he would have denied that the sight made him excited. The thought of slipping even one finger into that unexplored passage made his cock twitch in excitement. It would have been so easy, with the slick oil to ease the way in. And it was so tempting to just go ahead with it, expand this massage to touch the boy's prostate and make him go crazy with pleasure for the first time in his life. But that would have been the wrong way to go about this.

He had lingered on Hyde's ass longer than he maybe should have, or at least long enough for the boy to notice that he was not moving on. He slave didn't say anything, but Tetsuya could see that he was starting to feel more uncomfortable again.

“Shhh, trust me,” he whispered soothingly, but did not move his focus to something else even then, “I told you, I won't do anything that is too much. Trust me with what I'm doing, with moving you further at a pace you can handle. Trust me to stop when you need me to...”

Even as he said that, however, he knew that unless he did, carefully, nudge at Hyde's current limits, then they would never expand. And so he decided to test the boy's trust a little bit more. Carefully, he moved his thumb more to the side and let it slide over the lovely little hole directly. Hyde did tense up a bit then, it was probably unavoidable, but Tetsuya was happy to see he didn't try to move away. A thought flashed in Tetsuya's mind that with Hyde's innocence about sexual things and lack of knowledge, he might not be fully aware of the significance that this tiny entrance into his body had. He probably suspected it at the very least, but Tetsuya was sure it would be up to him to explain it fully further along the way.

He repeated the motion of his thumb again, this time stopping at the small opening and circling it softly, watching it react and twitch slightly in response. The slave trainer's cock reacted quite the same to it, and Tetsuya's pants were becoming quite uncomfortable by then. Still, while he never let his finger slip in, he continued rubbing over the spot a bit longer and could soon even hear the boy start breathing faster, his body obviously reacting without him wanting it to. Tetsuya glanced lower then, curiously, and allowed himself a smile when he saw that Hyde's own cock was stirring, if only very very slightly. But there was no denying that the reaction was actually quite positive.

Deciding that was enough for one evening, however, Tetsuya finally moved on again and almost chuckled when he realized that the boy immediately breathed out in relief. He spent a few more minutes sliding his hands up and down the slave's skin, getting the last few touches in before he finally sat back and grabbed a tissue from the bedside table to wipe his hands with.

“That's enough for tonight,” he said, moving to sit on the side of the bed now so Hyde could turn over again if he wanted, although the boy predictably stayed as he was, “If the oil bothers you, you can go have a hot shower to wash it off, but you can as well just let it soak into your skin while you sleep,” he explained casually, “Did you enjoy it?”

The question made the boy freeze in thought for a few seconds, before he tentatively nodded his head.

“It was nice,” he admitted in a quiet voice, “Weird but... nice.”

Tetsuya nodded, satisfied, and then hesitated a little, wondering if he should tell Hyde to turn around for him after all before leaving. He could pretty much imagine how darkly he would blush after he did, his eyes darting down to his crotch for a second before he looked away to the side in embarrassment. But he supposed he demanded more than enough from Hyde tonight already.

“Goodnight, Hyde,” he said instead, standing up and gathering the few things that he had brought with himself, “Tomorrow you will get your first few tasks, so you better rest up well.”

He then threw a small smile over his shoulder at the tiny boy, and left the room. He did, however, feel quite lucky that he could just turn to May's room immediately now and get her to take care of the little “problem” that touching his new slave so extensively had caused. It was pretty urgent, after all.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short and rather empty one. I didn't initially plan to end it at that point, but I realized it would be better if the next part was already in a new chapter. Sorry for the wait, this took longer to write than I hoped it would :/ Hopefully, the next part will be better and coming quite soon.

Hyde's dreams were filled with a blur of invading hands and long, slender, slightly calloused fingers.

That led to sleep that wasn't really that restful, making the boy toss and turn in his sleep as his mind was flooded by unfamiliar imagery and sensations. When the alarm clock finally went off at the fixed time of seven in the morning, the small boy immediately startled awake, his eyes opening quickly and his hand shooting out to silence the shrill beeping. There was a lingering feeling of anxiety in his chest, confusing him as the details of the dreams he just had left his memory in a flash already, leaving the reason for the feeling a mystery to him.

He took a deep breath and tried to relax back for a few moments, letting his body wake up at its own pace while his mind took in the situation. It was still a bit of a surprise to realize he was naked under the covers as it had only been his second night like that. But this time his brain also registered another weird thing that hadn't been there even yesterday: his skin felt strangely soft to him. He frowned as his sleepy mind hinted that there was a reason for that, and suddenly last evening rushed back to him, making him remember the massage and the slick oil that was most likely the cause of the current softness of his skin.

A sudden heat of embarrassment washed over him at the images the memory summoned into his mind, and in a burst of childish need to hide even though there was noone else in the room with him, Hyde threw the blanket over his head and curled up under it, shivering slightly in the darkness that now surrounded him.

That's right. The massage. Unbidden, ghost sensation of hands sliding over his body flooded onto him and he trembled more strongly, a heat gathering in his body that his innocent mind couldn't yet recognize. 

He had gone straight to sleep yesterday after Tetsuya left his room, his body and mind relaxed enough after the massage to slip into dreamland very quickly. But now that he thought back to it, he couldn't feel even half as calm as Tetsuya had managed to make him then. 

The older man had touched him, explored his body with his own fingers, skin on skin, even going to places that still made the slave blush while merely thinking of it, places that he never thought he'd be touched at before. And it hadn't felt bad, Hyde had to admit that. It made him incredibly embarrassed, but it hadn't felt _bad_ and wasn't that the entire purpose of this? Making Hyde understand on a deeper level that being touched by his Master was okay; later – even something to be sought after? Of course, the boy was nowhere near _that_ yet, but the first step had definitely been taken. And if that wasn't proof of how well his owner had thought out the process, and how capable of guiding him into his new life Tetsuya was, then Hyde didn't know what was. And that was relieving on its own.

Slowly, Hyde tugged the blanket down and away from his face again, breathing in the cooler air of the room once his nose was exposed to it again. The blush also receded from his face and he finally felt ready to face the day after that encouraging thought had come to him. Speaking of which, however...

Hyde glanced at the clock again and then winced when he realized he had spent far too much time just lounging around in his bed. Quickly, he got up, gathered everything he needed and headed for the shower. He knew his first tasks would be waiting for him today, and he also had to read through the rules again at least once each morning before going to have breakfast, and there wasn't that much time for him to do all of that left.

He rushed through the shower as much as he could while still scrubbing the remnants of the oil off of his skin, then hurriedly brushed his teeth and hair before dressing himself in the same clothes he wore yesterday – he still only had the one set that fit him, after all, although fortunately they bought underwear for him separately. Not that Hyde truly felt bad wearing the same clothes two days in a row – it wasn't like he had that many clothes in his possession when he was still free and worked the fields with his sister.

The thought of his sister made him hurry even more, as he got excited over the possibility that a response to his letter might already be waiting for him. It was unlikely, he knew, but he couldn't help but hope for it.

He quickly returned to his room after that and took a couple of minutes to make his bed and tidy up any other mess before finally making his way downstairs, heading straight for the notice board. Since he was truly anxious and curious about it, he first looked at the schedule that was, as promised, already prepared for him. However, unlike Tia's and May's schedules, which he could see with the corner of his eyes, his schedule was almost disappointingly short. Today, for example, instead of listing specified tasks it had him follow and assist Tia while she showed him how to do things that he would only later be supposed to do by himself.

That made sense, of course, since Hyde had to learn _somehow_. But Hyde had somehow expected something else – perhaps more interaction with either one of the trainers, or some learning courses beside the menial tasks, since Tetsuya had mentioned he would sign him up for them. Something less... boring. Maybe those would only come later, however, he shrugged to himself. He shouldn't have expected some courses to conveniently start on his first day of training...

Shrugging the small disappointment off, Hyde then carefully read through the rules as Tetsuya had told him to, trying to memorize them better. Anew one was added since yesterday too, one specifying when exactly he had to ask for permission before entering or leaving a room, and he added that to his mental list. When he was finally done, it was just in time for him to get to the dining room without being late for breakfast. Only the door to the room, unlike yesterday, was closed. Hyde blinked in surprise, before realizing this was likely a test to see if he read through the rules. He smiled and lifted his hand to knock – closed doors meant a need for permission for him.

Tetsuya's muffled voice was the one telling him to enter, and Hyde quickly did so, immediately giving a small bow to greet both his owner and Yukihiro who was also sitting by the table already. Only then did he allow himself to glance, quickly, at Tetsuya's face, barely catching the small, satisfied smile-half-smirk on it. Apparently, it really _had_ been a test, and he just passed it.

“Good morning,” he finally said quietly, timidly going to, by now, his usual place at Tetsuya's side and sitting down. Yukihiro barely made and agreeing noise behind the newspaper that he was reading and Hyde only just managed to catch a glimpse of Tia flashing him a smile, before his whole attention was captured by Tetsuya.

“Good morning,” the older man answered cheerfully, sounding like he was in a good mood that morning, and suddenly leaning in closer. Hyde's eyes widened in shock when he felt those, by now slightly familiar, lips touching his own. A kiss, now? Was it... was this some sort of regular morning thing that Tetsuya would do now, to make him get used to being kissed?

Not that Hyde would have any say in this if he didn't want that. In general, he realized as he let his eyes flutter closed, he was thinking about these things too deeply, trying to figure out the goal of each action when in reality, he should just concentrate on accepting what his owner did without analysing those things. So instead of thinking further about _why_ , Hyde let himself melt into the kiss and concentrate on _how it felt_. Tetsuya's lips were as soft as he remembered them, and although the realization that he was being kissed in front of other people he knew made him blush violently, Hyde actually otherwise enjoyed it very much. The soft, but insistent pressure on his lips, the warmth radiating from the taller man, a brief lick of tongue over his lips so quick that Hyde almost thought he might have imagined it... It made him feel a little lost for what to do, still, but it was undeniably weirdly pleasant as well.

But then it was over just as suddenly as it started, without the slave trainer deepening it or drawing it out, and Hyde was left in a temporary daze, not noticing neither Tia's soft giggle at his almost comically innocent reaction, nor the look Tetsuya threw at her, silencing her so she would not make Hyde feel further embarrassed. By the time Hyde finally came back to himself, his fingertips subconsciously touching his own lips, Tetsuya was already spreading butter over a piece of warm toast as if nothing had happened, and Yukihiro had yet to look up even once during the entire commotion.

“So how are you this morning?” Tetsuya then asked casually, “I trust you checked on your schedule?”

“Yes, Sir,” Hyde answered, finally spurring into action to get his own breakfast, but not before nodding at Tia in shy acknowledgement, “I hope I won't be much trouble to you, Tia-senpai,” he said politely, getting another smile in response. Only then he suddenly realized that they were one person short in the room, “Huh?” he let out in his confusion, “Where is May-senpai?” he asked before he could even think about it.

“I let her sleep in a bit this morning,” Tetsuya explained just as casually, “We had a... late night with her.”

“Oh,” Hyde reacted a little stupidly, and then his face darkened with an impossibly bright blush as he actually grasped the meaning of those words. Did Tetsuya... after giving him the massage... “Oh,” he repeated, his voice breaking a little in the enormity of the embarrassment that he suddenly felt. Did Tetsuya actually... _because_ of the massage, even?..

Tia let out another soft giggle and this time Tetsuya barely rolled his eyes at it, no longer bothering to silence her. Still violently red at the face, Hyde made sure to no longer say anything and just eat to make sure he wouldn't ask anything more. He had enough blushing for the morning.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's actually no Tetsu in this one until the very end, but I'm afraid this was truly necessary, and I couldn't skip it. I promise the next part will be pretty much ONLY tetsu/hyde interaction though. Really.

It soon turned out that when she was allowed to be, Tia was actually a really talkative person.

As soon as everyone was done eating and Tetsu went away together with Yukihiro to do... whatever they had planned for the day, Hyde looked at the slave girl sort of expectantly, and she didn't keep him waiting.

“Well then,” she started without preamble, “The first thing we do when we're on housework duty is put all this away,” she gestured at the food on the table.

“Won't May-san want to eat when she wakes up?” Hyde asked, and Tia shook her head.

“She'll get what she wants when she does and cleans up after herself. Our duties remain the same regardless.”

It was the first time that Hyde actually stepped into the kitchen and saw the expensive-looking appliances, the shiny counter tops and various tools for cooking that he couldn't even recognize. Thus he listened attentively while Tia explained where everything was and what to do there, although when he asked about specific things or items he found interesting, she waved the questions away.

“We'll talk about that when we cook dinner later,” she promised, putting the last of what they brought back from the dining room away.

They met a sleepy May just as she was coming down from her room, but only greeted her quickly before continuing on their own way. As they went from room to room, Tia continued giving him information. Both of their Masters' rooms were to be cleaned up when they weren't in them so as to keep out of their way. Making their beds was the duty of the slaves, whereas the slaves had to make their own beds each morning – failure to do so properly before that is checked would warrant punishment, and Hyde was supposed to tell Tetsuya if he found one of the other slaves' rooms untidy in any way some morning.

“We never said anything the last two mornings to you,” she noted, as she made him redo his bed in a way that was more proper, “Since you couldn't have known. But now that you've been taught how to do it, the rule will apply to you as well.”

Tia showed him how to use the vacuum cleaner, and then the washing machine, although not before carefully explaining what clothing was supposed to be washed in which program, and which fabric was only supposed to be hand-washed. Soon after they were done setting the laundry, the door-bell rang and it turned out to be a delivery from the tailor's – Hyde's new clothes. Yukihiro appeared briefly to sign for the delivery man as slaves didn't have the ability to do so, but then was gone away soon again, and Hyde and Tia hauled the clothes up to Hyde's room where the girl helped him put them into his wardrobe. Instead of turning into a small break as Hyde had expected it at first, the time was spent learning about what clothing from the ones he received was supposed to be worn to which occasions. In his previous life Hyde had so little to do with the rest of the society that he barely even had any understanding about which clothing counted as official and which as casual.

“Do I even really need this?” he asked, stupefied, when Tia pointed out an especially intricate outfit as something that is worn by the escort of a high-standing person while attending noble galas and banquets. It was made well enough and so expensive that it could even be worn at the audience with the King or the rest of the Royal Family.

“Master Tetsuya is of noble blood, and he is a highly respected slave trainer,” Tia explained to him patiently, and Hyde remembered Yukihiro mentioning something to that point in the conversation he had overheard yesterday, “There are many such occasions that he attends, and he always requires at least one of his current trainees to accompany him. Especially if it is a slave trainer gathering or so – that is one of the best places for the slaves to be shown off to potential customers. I've heard that our Master never takes any of his trainees to sell at the market. Up until now, at least, he has always secured a place in a specific household individually for each of them, and then finished up the training to the tastes of the specific buyer,” she revealed, and Hyde found himself eating up every word of what was, he assumed, waiting for him in the future. The girl, quite opposite of his excitement, seemed to become more and more subdued while she spoke about it.

“Is something wrong?” the boy couldn't help but ask, worried when he saw the normally cheery girl's expression cloud up.

“No, everything is fine,” The older girl immediately smiled to reassure him, “It is just... I've already been here for a month and a half, and I've been shown to public a few times, but there has been little interest yet. Master told me it's not because I seem like a bad slave, or for lack of... physical attractiveness. It's just because I'm rather old to be sold for the first time, and most people are worried about the lack of experience at such an age...”

“Old?” Hyde repeated, surprised. Tia could only be fifteen at most, after all...

“I was sick for a long time as a child. I'm well by now but...” the girl explained further, “May-senpai told me you used to be free, so you might not know, but normally I would have been sold at least two years earlier.”

“But May-senpai seems to be older than you?” Hyde continued to be confused, taking advantage of the fact that the older girl didn't seem to mind his curiosity.

“Oh, but she already had one Master,” she disclosed casually, “She is being re-trained for her second one who has some different tastes and needs than her first. But come on now, we should get going with this,” she gestured at the clothes that had yet to be put away. Hyde forced himself to, for the time being, put off thinking about what he had just learned about his fellow slaves until later, and almost winced at that, his head already heavy with all the new information that has been given to him today. But Tia seemed to notice his apprehension to listen to her even more and laughed light-heartedly.

“Don't worry about not remembering everything perfectly today already,” she reassured him gently, “This week is for learning all this. We will repeat things again and again to you if need be. Just try your best, and it will turn out fine.”

That did reassure Hyde at least slightly, but he still forced himself to concentrate on what he was being told about the rest of the clothes as well as he could. He didn't want to seem like he wasn't trying his best after all, and he was determined to not annoy Tia by having to ask about things again and again. However, it was truly hard to understand some of the things. Especially when it came to any appliances that ran on electricity – none of them were something Hyde had ever had to work with before in his life, and it was even a bit of a shock to realize some tasks that had been so arduous back at home could here be done by the press of a few buttons. It felt alien to him, and he just hoped that he really would get used to this soon enough.

The clothes were soon done, however, and it was nearing lunch-time. Hyde's stomach was already grumbling, quietly, every once in a while – he liked food a lot, after all, and now that he actually, theoretically, had access to ample of it all the time, it was like his body suddenly felt it was able to actively demand it for once and actually be heard. Tia heard it, at least, and suggested they got themselves some lunch.

Blushing a bit in embarrassment at the transparency of his hunger, Hyde did as suggested and followed Tia outside, where he actually saw the backyard for the first time. It was big. Huge, really, by Hyde's standards, including a garden, a lawn and even a small pool, and, apparently, sometimes required quite a bit of attention and work. Right now, it had been recently taken care of, so they had little to do. The girl only showed him how exactly would he have to go about mowing the lawn and weeding the garden and so on before they were back inside, only not for long. Tia showed him where the Masters usually left some money for grocery shopping and then led them out into the city, to the supermarket so they could buy food for dinner. Although Hyde was a bit apprehensive about it, since his rules didn't allow him to leave the house, Tia reassured him she had been given permission to bring him out for this.

“The money is only for dinner though,” Tia was stressing just as they stepped out into the street, “If you have some personal need for something, you can't _ever_ use this for that. You have to ask the Masters personally for it, or use your own pocket money when you get some.”

Hyde nodded to show that he understood, but personally he didn't even think it had been worth mentioning – as if he would ever dare use the money for himself. He might be clueless about a lot of things concerning his new status of life, but he could have guessed very well that something like that would be an absolute taboo.

Speaking of cluelessness about the life of a slave... Hyde thought back to his and Tia's short talk in his room and the way the girl seemed honestly worried about not being sold. Was it really such a bad thing to not be sold easily? Hyde carefully glanced at his companion, now walking mutely beside him, leading the way, probably thinking about what exactly to buy. The girl was obviously distressed by a mere idea of not getting much interest from buyers, but wasn't that more of a problem for their current owner, not them? Tetsuya was a nice Master, Hyde could imagine that staying with him would be comfortable. He wouldn't be able to just start mistreating them once they outstayed their welcome – not with the laws in place to prevent it, and he didn't seem like a person to do that in general. He was too nice and too fair.

Of course, it would probably get awkward after a while, staying where you're not even wanted. Actually, wasn't he supposed to start wanting to please his owner, which, in that case, would mean wanting to appear desirable for his clients? And maybe... was that why Tia mentioned the way Tetsuya usually sold his trainees? Perhaps if Tetsuya couldn't find a buyer for them that way, he still wouldn't wait much longer and just sell him off at the market after all. And the prices are most likely much lower in the market than the ones in private deals; the slaves more available for less prestigious clientèle... perhaps it did make sense to want to appeal to the people that would be able to spoil their slaves quite well after buying, if you know you'd be sold anyway.

And then there was the thing he had learned about May... He truly didn't know before that she was already _that_ experienced a slave. But that fact alone wasn't what bothered him – it was the reminder that he, too, wouldn't just stay with one Master through his life. Hadn't Tetsuya mentioned that too, how he expected Hyde to go through a few different Masters quite fast because of his age?

How must that feel? Hyde knew it won't take him long to get attached to Tetsuya and Yukihiro already, and they were just his trainers. In fact, he was already, in _his_ mind at least, forming a bond with Tetsuya. How would he feel when he'd have to suddenly redirect the devotion, obedience and trust, which he was supposed to feel towards his owner at the end of his training, towards a completely different person? And then, assuming he would manage to do it with his first Master, do it again after a year or two when he will get bored of him and re-sell him?

Perhaps he was still thinking too much like a... person. Not like a slave, not like the commodity to other people that he was supposed to be. He had barely been conditioned into it yet, and when he finally would be, maybe it would come to him easily, naturally. But right now he just couldn't understand. The two images of a slave he had in his head – one, that was totally devoted to one person alone and the other, that easily accepted being passed off to another Master – were clashing completely. 

Perhaps he would be able to ask Tetsuya about it in the evening. He was, after all, meant to guide and explain things to Hyde. The new slave thought about asking Tia about how she sees it but... having grown up into this life, she probably wouldn't even understand why it would puzzle him in the first place. The right mindset would have been drilled into her since birth.

By the time he was finished pondering, they had already reached the supermarket. Of course, again, Hyde had never been to a shop as big before, and certainly was never able to buy such a quantity of such quality goods before. But there wasn't really anything to learn here, so Hyde just helped out Tia with carrying everything home. People barely paid them any attention as they passed, and Hyde thought they probably looked like just a couple of regular, free kids, out on an errand. Except to the people who looked closely enough to notice the collars adorning both their necks, he realized a bit later. The collar that, he was startled to realize, he hadn't thought of or really felt even once that day. If only he could get used to all the changes he was going through as seamlessly as to this.

Preparing dinner was something Tia only used him as an assistant for. Having no idea about any recipes, Hyde could only cut, chop and grate what he was told to, the way he was told to. The girl explained that he would soon start learning about actual cooking and memorizing recipes himself, but it would be rather useless to just tell him one now. She did, however, instruct him how to make the table. Somehow, in the end, she managed to time everything just perfectly that by the time everyone else came down to dinner, the food was ready, hot, and waiting on the table to be eaten.

“Oh, Hyde,” Tetsuya addressed him absent mindedly when both the boy and his today's mentor came out of the kitchen to join them, “This came for you just a little earlier.”

The slave trainer was already handing him something, and Hyde's eyes widened as they recognized the rectangular, thin form of an envelope. A letter. From his sister.

His whole attention suddenly focused on that one, small thing, the newest slave quickly took it into his suddenly trembling from eagerness hands, barely blinking as he stared. It was true – the inelegant scrawl on the envelope was definitely his sister's writing. Suddenly desperate to read it as quickly as possible, Hyde felt divided between tearing the envelope open right then and there and running off to his room to read privately. In the end, he started to open it while walking out at the same time...

Suddenly, there was a firm grip on the boy's shoulder, and Hyde was twirled around before he could even grasp what was happening. Tetsuya was now standing before him, having somehow really quickly risen from his seat and caught up with him. Hyde had no time to wonder about that at all as the next thing he knew was a sting in his cheek and a quiet ringing in his ears as his owner suddenly slapped him.

It was not a strong slap. Hyde didn't tear up, and it was more the surprise than the force behind the hit that made his head get thrown to the side a little. He was sure, even in his shock, that Tetsuya had definitely held back and could have hit him many times stronger. Still, the fact remained that he was just slapped, and Tetsuya was looking seriously at him, obviously displeased. Half a minute passed in absolute silence. Hyde wasn't about to look and check, but he was sure all the others had stopped eating and were looking at them, perhaps holding their breaths.

“Do you know why I did this?” Tetsuya asked strictly, expectantly. Problem was, Hyde had no idea. He desperately thought back to what happened. Tetsuya handing him the letter, his excitement... The image of the envelope in Tetsuya's hand, extended towards him lingered in his mind. Oh.

“I... I didn't thank you, Sir?” he wasn't quite sure, so it came out more like a question. But Tetsuya nodded his head. Hyde breathed out in relief, but it was too soon.

“Yes. What else?”

Hyde blinked, now truly at a loss. He felt heat gather in his cheek, and suddenly also felt incredibly self-conscious. He was being punished, for the first time, for apparently not one, but _multiple_ misdemeanours. Not only that, but it was happening right in front of everyone else. It felt incredibly shameful, and Hyde fidgeted a little, unable to give any answer.

“The dinner is to be eaten at seven. Together with everyone else. Is that not in your rules?”

Hyde widened his eyes as he finally understood.

“Yes, Sir,” he said barely audibly, looking at his feet.

“You were here with not one, but two of your superiors. Have you been given permission to leave the room?”

If possible, Hyde's shoulders hunched over even more. He felt like crying now – not from pain, but from disappointment and shame.

“No, Sir,” he whispered at the floor. Any pride he might have felt for passing the morning's test was gone and forgotten. Just as, it seemed, Tetsuya's good mood from the morning.

“So what do you do now?” Tetsuya prompted him, sounding a bit less harsh, but still just as serious and strict.

“I am sorry, Sir,” the boy apologized. His impatience to read his sister's answer to his letter had gotten the best of him, making him forget all the rules. He was still itching to read it, but he knew it would be impossible at least until after dinner. That is, if Tetsuya wouldn't take it away again and make him wait even longer as punishment, “This won't ever happen again.”

“Good,” Tetsuya nodded curtly, “There is one more thing, although I suppose you wouldn't know about it. But Tia can explain one more thing to you today, right?” he asked, turning his head to address the girl who was frozen in her seat. But she answered immediately.

“Getting punished by our Master is an honour,” she recited easily, “We must always thank him for taking the time to discipline and teach us about what we did wrong.”

Hyde didn't need more to understand, and didn't wait for Tetsuya to prompt him again.

“Thank you, Sir,” he said, finally regaining some volume to his voice, “I will make sure to learn from this.”

That seemed to truly be enough and the tense figure of his owner before him finally relaxed, as if satisfied, Hyde soon felt the same hand from before touching his cheek again, only this time gently, cupping it and making him look up. When he did, he saw that Tetsuya was now smiling down at him.

“It's okay,” the older man said softly, reassuringly, in complete contrast to his unforgiving attitude before, “Everyone makes mistakes. This might be your first punishment, but it won't be your last, far from it. It's important, and you should always take it seriously, but you must understand that it's a completely unavoidable part of the process. Take this as a push forward to try harder, not something to make you feel like giving up. Understand?”

Hyde nodded. He certainly felt terrible now, especially now that the tense moment was over and he was left shaking and blinking tears away from his eyes.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good,” Tetsuya repeated one more time, “Now let's get back to this dinner, shall we?”

He motioned Hyde back to the table. Still, to the seat right next to him. 


	17. Chapter 17

The rest of the dinner, once it actually started properly, passed without any further incidents, although for the first few minutes of it Hyde felt as subdued as he had felt the first evening in the house, despite for the first time knowing perfectly well how to eat all the dishes correctly. The sudden reprimand just reminded him of how alien this whole lifestyle still was to him. And all those fancy dishes that just a few minutes ago he himself had helped make and expensive cutlery that he himself had set on the table suddenly looked incredibly intimidating again.

But as was always the case with him, his hunger soon won out over any other awkwardness that he might have been feeling. Before long, he was so immersed in his food, especially since everyone else acted like nothing happened, that all the heavy feelings disappeared.

He had learned his lesson, however, and wasn't about to _forget_ it any time soon - even once everyone was done eating, he stayed in his seat until he was dismissed. And even _then_ he didn't immediately run to his room - he stayed, instead, to help Tia clean up as was his duty for today. He realized, after all, that as eager as he was to know what his sister had written him, it didn't matter whether he read it now or an hour later - he would only be able to send a response to her tomorrow morning at the earliest, and the letter wasn't going to disappear in the meantime. It was much more important to concentrate on things that he had to take care of at the present so he wouldn't make any rushed mistakes that actually had consequences.

But that realization didn't stop from bounding up the stairs and pretty much running into his room with the half-open letter in hand once the two of them _were_ done in the kitchen and he was free to do so. With the envelope ripped open and discarded, soon Hyde was sitting at his table with his heart hammering wildly in his chest and his eyes skirting across the page as fast as he could with so little practice in it.

_My dearest Hideto,_

_Or should I truly use the name "Hyde" instead as well now? It pains me to even consider it, but I do not wish to put you in any further trouble just because I can't let go of a name._

_I must ask you to excuse me, my dear little brother, if this letter turns out too chaotic and makes little sense to you: my mind is such a jumbled mess and my eyes are full of tears even as I write these words, just as they have been ever since I first read your letter. As much as I would love to share your relief over getting chosen by someone as nice as this Tetsuya that you had described to me so positively, I cannot yet get over my grief and confusion over all that happened in general to do so. Please forgive my selfishness in mentioning that - it is you that bears the brunt of the situation, after all, and here I am telling you about my own sadness. But until the very moment I received your letter, I had still hoped that at the end of the third day you would be returned to me and I may be allowed to face the consequences of my actions myself. Or that it would all turn out to have been a bad dream._

_But nothing can be changed anymore, I understand that. And although I want to rage and cry about how unfairly everything happened and how much I wish you at least hadn't offered up yourself instead of me, what's done is done and I know it would be useless to waste time on it. Instead, I will try to take control of my emotions as fast as I can so that I may attempt to support you through this as much as I can with at least my letters._

_Please do not waste your time worrying about me at least – despite my shock, I managed to go to work already (although I'm afraid I was of little actual help) with the knowledge that life has to go on despite how much it feels like the end of the world to us. The house feels oppressively empty without you here, but Mr. Watanabe, a good friend of our family as he has always been, suggested I live with his family now and share the rent if you don't come back. As loath as I am to leave this house that holds so many memories of our parents (and you as well), I must be realistic: as you now know, we couldn't pay the rent together, so I would be unable to do it alone even more so. I will go live with them and I will be fine, so please concentrate on yourself and spare me little thought. _

_I wish I could write more and respond fully to the things that you've told me about your new situation, but that will have to wait until the next letter. As I already mentioned, I am far too confused and dazed after everything that happened to manage a proper reply. I am really happy you were allowed to write me, at least, and in general have been taken in by such a kind-sounding person._

_I will write to you again as soon as I can string myself together and make some sense of all that has changed, I promise you._

_Please, write as often as you can yourself to inform me of your well-being._

_With all my love,_

_Your worried sister, Gina_

It was only when Hyde had already wiped away a tear from his cheek that he realized that he had teared up at some point while reading the letter. It felt surreal yet wonderful to hear from his sister again, even if he could literally feel the worry and grief being emanated from every word his she wrote. But the tears in his own eyes were from relief.

Although he hadn't allowed himself to really _think_ it, Hyde had been worried when Tetsuya told him he had been unable to pass the letter to Gina in person. Yes, he logically knew she had to have gone to work, but who was to say she hadn't been gone because the men she borrowed the money from had come back and taken her away to sell as well? She had been left alone, and they seemed to have no morals. They might have thought she was easy prey for some extra money.

But she _wa_ s okay, and there were, apparently, still people that cared about her close-by. Hyde closed his eyes, pressing the sheet of paper to his chest, and sent a silent heart-felt thanks to Mr. Watanabe. The elderly neighbour always had had a soft spot for them two kids trying to make it alone after their parents died. He would not let anything happen to Gina.

Of course, he was saddened that their little shack was going to be passed on to someone else, but Hyde had known he would never be able to see it again in any case. And his sister's safety was more precious than anything a mere house could hold anyway. The memories of his parents and the times when they had all been a happy family were all stored in their hearts, not in some material rooms and walls.

"Must be the first time that I witnessed someone crying with such a peaceful expression on their face," suddenly a by now very familiar voice jerked Hyde out of his thoughts and the boy turned on his chair in a rush to look at his owner who was now leaning casually against the side of Hyde's open (as always) doorway with his arms crossed. The slave wondered for a second just how long the older man had stood there, just looking at him silently, but soon brushed the thought away. What did it matter? This didn't even feel like invasion of privacy to him anymore, not after everything else. It was almost scary how quickly he was getting used to this part of it, really.

"Do you wish to read it, Sir?" he asked, already offering the letter to his owner as he remembered the man explaining he had wanted to read it last time because it allowed him to get to know Hyde better. The action came to him quite naturally even, he realized. He didn't mind Tetsuya reading his correspondence. It was as if he had let out all of his bad feelings about it yesterday in Tetsuya's room and then accepted it. Not only accepted - _understood_. Tetsuya trying to know him better was a favour to _him_ , not the other way around. The older man didn't need to put such an effort into this - he could just plough through Hyde by force if he had to until the slave was the perfect example of usefulness and obedience that he was supposed to be. But he didn't. He chose to do it in the most considerate way possible.

And then Tetsuya also seemed to look a little _surprised_ when Hyde voluntarily offered him the letter. Like he was almost... touched by how easily Hyde gave him this trust. But in a second his expression morphed back into a soft smile and he waved the offer off.

"Maybe later," he said and stepped further into the room, dropping his hands to his sides, "As long as everything's okay and there isn't anything I _should_ know about in it?" he inquired then, raising an eyebrow and causing Hyde to think back to what he had just read.

"No, I don't think so, Sir. She seems to be coping well... or, I suppose, as well as she can," he glanced back at the letter uncomfortably, "She asks about my name though," he muttered then, "I think it really hurts her to not be allowed to call me like she's used to, as the brother she always knew, but she doesn't want to cause me trouble..."

"I would not punish you for things she chooses to do," Tetsuya dismissed that fear quickly, "I bought _you_ , but _she_ is as free as she has always been. I do not have any more control over her than over any other random person. Remember what I told _you_ about that name though. It is for your own sake that you get used to it, and it would be harder for _you_ to do if even one person still calls you by your old one. Not to mention that it all works the same for her as well. Letting go your name might make it easier to accept the situation in general."

Hyde mulled over the words silently, considering them. He was, actually, pretty much used to the name already. Tetsuya's advice _had_ been right about the effect accepting the name had on him, and by now Hyde was glad he had taken it. So he could only assume that the older man was right about how it would work for Gina as well.

"I'll tell her to use "Hyde" then," he made his decision out loud, nodding his head and putting the paper away onto the table.

"Good," was the only other comment his owner offered on the subject and then stepped even closer to Hyde, raising his hand suddenly and threading his fingers caressingly through the youth's hair. The boy's breath hitched for a second at the unexpected touch - he was still only getting used to physical contact in general, after all, and this seemed so... intimate. But he forced himself to take a deep breath and calm down, remembering what Tetsuya had done to him yesterday and how _that_ didn't feel bad at all and this was really so innocent in comparison...

“We didn't really speak during dinner this time, I was too busy discussing things with Yukki,” Tetsuya mused out loud in the meantime, “How was your day? I see you at least got your clothes... Was working with Tia any fun? Do you have any questions about anything?”

Hyde blinked, again, surprised at just how much and how sincerely the slave trainer seemed to care. Of course it was his job, but he always sounded like he genuinely wanted Hyde to feel comfortable, not simply for the slave to ask anything that he didn't understand about his tasks so he could train him and make him learn things faster.

“It was...” Hyde wavered. It hadn't been _not_ fun, and yet that wasn't really the word he would choose for it, “...interesting,” he settled on finally, “A lot of new information to remember. I'm a little afraid I might forget everything again by tomorrow,” he confessed, shuffling his feet under the table nervously as he didn't want Tetsuya to get mad at him for not being confident enough. But again, the older man reacted all but negatively.

“I'm sure it's not going to be _that_ bad,” he chuckled a little, settling more comfortably by half-sitting on Hyde's desk, “But that is why you will have a whole week of this to get it down properly before you get some other tasks added to your schedule. But everything was clear to you in general?” he asked again, and Hyde nodded.

“Yes, Tia explains everything very... thoroughly,” he said, trying to not outright say how unusually _chatty_ he found the girl, “We talked a lot and she told me a bit about herself too,” he said, and then suddenly remembered the one thing that he _had_ planned on asking his owner about, “And about May too...” he trailed off, suddenly unsure about how to get to what he wanted to know about.

“I told her not to overwhelm you with too much so far unnecessary information. But since she's a born slave, she has problems distinguishing between things that are a given to her but not to someone who was born free,” Tetsuya picked up the conversation from him then when the silence started to stretch, “From how you sound, she definitely ended up saying something that raised some questions in your head?” he pried carefully and Hyde nodded, thankful that Tetsuya understood so well without need for much explanation. So he simply went on to tell Tetsuya the things that Tia had spoken about that day.

“Aren't we supposed to be devoted to our current owners completely?” he finished talking with the question that bothered him, “So how can we say we are devoted completely if we are later supposed to also be alright with getting passed to someone _else_? “

He glanced up at Tetsuya fully then, waiting for an explanation, but the older man seemed weirdly distracted for a second.

“That silly girl, she really shouldn't worry. I must tell Yukki to talk to her later,” he mumbled, seemingly more thinking out loud than talking to Hyde. But then he shook his head, as if trying to clear it, and smiled down at the boy comfortingly.

“I know that seems pretty difficult to grasp and very contradictory to you at the moment, but I can promise you that with time you _will_ understand it quite naturally. For now, I think the way you should look at it is... You are supposed to be devoted to your Master, yes. But the most important or, in fact, the _only_ way you are allowed to _show_ that devotion is by following your Master's every wish. In a way you are devoted to those desires more than to the person. So if one of those wishes is for you to be sold to another, then making that come true is what should make _you_ happy. At least up until the point where you belong to someone else, and then it's the new Master's wishes that take over. Do you understand?”

Hyde thought about that, frowning. Yes, it made sense, of course. In theory. But it still didn't explain how he was supposed to be able to just easily _switch_ from one person to another, as if someone pressed some button that reassigned his focus. So he asked about it out loud. Tetsuya sighed and spoke up again, slowly this time, weighing every word.

“I never said it _is_ an easy switch,” he said, sounding genuinely perturbed for a second, “You _will_ get attached to your owners, and it will hurt a lot when they no longer want you. It will be hard to cope with, no matter how many times it happens. But that is the way it works and from the point of view I just explained there is at least no conflicting emotions. Until the very end, you are doing the same thing. There is never a question of what you're supposed to do. You can even say that being sold is your final act of pleasing your Master.”

Hyde still must have looked really unconvinced and not comforted because Tetsuya took a deep breath again and smiled at him soothingly, continuing to speak in the same manner.

“By the time you are through with the training, it will not sound as bad, believe me. You will be prepared mentally much better and you will be... conditioned to care about your owner's desires above all. It will numb everything else, in a way. A few weeks from now, I will already tell you to start thinking about _every_ action you take in relation to what I, as your current owner, want. To think before each, even the most menial of tasks, just how exactly what you're doing is pleasing your Master. And in time you will be eating because your Master wants you to have a healthy, nourished body and take a shower because that will make you more pleasant for the one that owns you. It is a lot to take in now, but in the long run, that is what will make things easier for you to live with.”

Hyde considered that again and, although rather severe and hard to take-in, this explanation actually made him feel better. The slave training was, after all, supposed to change the way he thought from the very basics. 

“Don't dwell on this for now, Hyde,” the older man spoke up again, extending his hand to brush it over the slave's hair again, the action made to be comforting, “It will bring you no good and you'll just lose sleep over it for no reason. Just know that I haven't been a slave trainer for this long without thinking these things through and knowing how to deal with them. Let's get away from this subject already, let me distract you. I _wa_ s planning to continue with our... lesson from yesterday after we're done talking about your day. So if there was nothing more you wanted to ask?..” Tetsuya said then, choosing his words carefully, but they ended up sounding more suggestive than they should have to Hyde's ears anyway. The boy blushed slightly, but leaned into the hand that continued petting his hair regardless.

"Of course, Tetsuya-san," he mumbled shyly at the floor.

"You are still reading the book about etiquette, right?" was the man's next question and Hyde answered affirmatively again, not quite knowing what that had to do with anything, "Good. It's still early after all, so it wouldn't be that clever to already start something that would just lead to sleeping like yesterday. Get the book, some paper and your pen and come to me," Tetsuya commanded, without offering much of an explanation. But his intentions became clear to Hyde once, after gathering the mentioned things, he saw that coming to Tetsuya meant getting onto the bed the slave trainer was already lounging upon, waiting for him.

Timidly, Hyde lifted himself onto the bed and settled down next to Tetsuya, his back resting against the headboard once the older man indicated him to sit that way. As soon as he was there, Tetsuya drew him in even closer to himself, however, by wounding an arm around him which Hyde consciously made himself relax against. And then they started reading together.

Tetsuya would explain the dryly-written passages more in-depth, quiz him on previous chapters and just make sure he understood everything correctly and remembered the most important things. Sometimes, he would share short anecdotes from his life that he had witnessed when people mixed up the rules they were reading about, or make Hyde note something down so that the boy would also get some writing practice. 

But all of that was occurring with the slave trainer's hand staying firmly around the young slave and as much as Hyde tried, he couldn't stop being acutely aware of it. He didn't tense up any more, fortunately, so that was a step in the right direction. But he just couldn't completely relax either. And now he started really understanding what his trainers meant when they kept saying that he had really big issues with being touched and that they were a problem: this was not even a big or an invasive touch. Hyde couldn't even understand himself why he couldn't stop reacting to it. But he just couldn't. And all the other small, brief touches that Tetsuya gave him every once in a while during their lesson didn't make it better either.

At least he was actually learning at the same time, even with the distractions.

And Hyde found he actually _liked_ learning, especially since Tetsuya was quite generous with praise even for the smallest of successes on his part. But that, unfortunately, meant that the time passed quite quickly for the young slave and before he knew it, a couple of hours were already gone and Tetsuya was stopping him from turning another page. By putting his hand on his and thus touching him more again. Hyde shivered.

"Sir?" the boy asked with strange trepidation in his voice when that same hand went on to gently uncurl his fingers from the book and take it away, putting it back onto the night-stand.

"I think it is now late enough for those activities that might lead to sleeping," the slaver explained smoothly, already stroking his hand down Hyde's leg. 

Well of course, it was not like Hyde hadn't expected that at some point this evening they would get to more... night training related activities. More of trying to get him used to being touched. So although a part of him just wanted to bolt and try to escape, just like it had wanted yesterday, he also just like yesterday realized both how futile that would turn out to be and how much he'd “hurt” noone else but himself by doing that. So he just gave in. Trusted Tetsuya once more.

"Should I... should I take off my clothes?" he asked, thinking back to yesterday and assuming that today would probably pass in a similar manner.

"No, it's okay," Tetsuya muttered silkily, almost as if he was actually trying to _seduce_ Hyde tonight, "Today I'll take off anything I want removed myself."

Well of _course_ Tetsuya seemed like he was trying to seduce him, Hyde thought to himself even while he trembled after hearing what the man said and allowed himself to be gently manoeuvred to lie completely on the bed. This was what the whole training was about, right? Hyde being... seduced. Hyde discovering bodily pleasure and becoming... used for it, in time.

But no matter how much he tried, his mind just wouldn't shut off. He was now lying flat on the bed again, with his owner half beside him, half over him, sliding his talented hands up his bare arms until they reached the sleeves of his t-shirt, and he _knew_ the caress-like touches should feel pleasurable. But he could only concentrate on keeping his breathing even. He tried to remember how he had managed to relax yesterday, but it just wasn't coming to him.

"Doesn't it feel good?" Tetsuya's voice suddenly pierced through his almost panicking thoughts, none of his inner struggle apparently escaping the slave trainer's perceptive eyes. At least hearing that voice alone already helped the boy calm down from the panicky feelings that he had thought himself into.

"I-I don't know..." Hyde whispered out, a bit shamefully, because he was feeling disappointed at himself for failing to accept something he _knew_ he should. Even yesterday things had gone better. He realized he should tell the truth however, and so he spoke openly, "I want to enjoy it, I know I should, but..."

He trailed off, because he couldn't explain it. If he could, if he knew the exact problem, maybe he would be able to solve it, after all.

"Hmm..." Tetsuya trailed off thoughtfully, momentarily stopping his ministrations and looking Hyde straight in the eyes, "How about this then?" the older man asked, his voice dropping to a deep, sensual mutter as he slowly leaned down lower and lower towards the slave's face, until he could press his lips firmly against Hyde's.

That made everything immediately different. Just like the previous kisses with his owner or the one he had shared with Yukihiro, it managed to take him by surprise. He should have seen it coming, but the moment he felt Tetsuya's incredibly soft lips pressing against his, it was as if his body was _jolted_ with unexpected pleasure. It was... very distracting. Although it probably still counted as a touch, just with lips instead of hands and fingers, unlike Tetsuya's earlier explorations of his body this didn't make his defensive instincts flare up, didn't make him want to shy away and regain his personal space. Quite the opposite - it crawled right past all that and made his heart flutter and his eyes blink shut in surrender.

Only, he realized as if through a wall of mist, Tetsuya _was_ still also touching him at the same time. While he varied the pressure on his mouth and sneakily managed to pry his lips open without Hyde even realizing it, his hands resumed their wandering over the slave's suddenly completely-pliant body. The older man deepened the kiss, slipping his warm tongue into Hyde's accepting mouth, drawing a gasp and completely distracting him from the fact that his fingers were ghosting over the inch-wide sliver of skin that got exposed because Hyde's shirt rode up his torso. He stroked his tongue alongside Hyde's, sucking the breath seemingly directly from the younger man's lungs and managed to keep him from tensing up while his hands rubbed over his stomach in a circular motion, steadily getting higher and higher under his shirt.

"I think," Tetsuya breathed out when they separated briefly for air, "I found a way to make you get used to this... We're finally making progress."

Hyde heard him speak, saw his lips moving to form words, felt his breath ghost over his face as he spoke and even made a tiny noise of eager agreement. But in reality, his mind could not decipher the meaning of those words, nor did he even _want_ it to. The only thing that mattered to him right then was the fact that his Master was soon kissing him again, exploring his mouth with his sinfully limber tongue and giving him pleasure - yes, pleasure - like nothing he had experienced.

This was nothing like the few previous kisses. They didn't stop at one or even two. They weren't stolen on a park bench or rushed before breakfast. They weren't just teasing, or just experimenting. Tetsuya was kissing him with true passion and was expecting the same in return. And he got it, because Hyde's body automatically responded to it despite actually never having done it before. It was a full-out make-out session and as inadequately prepared as Hyde might have been for this, he was proving to be a very fast learner. 

It wasn't chaotic or wild, however. Their lips didn't slam back together whenever they got separated, instead they rather sought the other's deliberately, purposefully. Needfully but languidly, without urgency. Hyde surrendered access inside willingly, but the slave trainer made use of it slowly, taking care to slide his tongue over every crevice available to him.

And it continued to work in distracting Hyde. It was not like he ceased to be aware of the touches. But somehow, being kissed at the same time finally brought out the pleasure in the caresses too. He didn't know how long they were doing this for already, maybe it was a full hour already. But it didn't even seem like that long when Hyde was startled by the small moan that escaped his mouth into his owner's when those long fingers rubbed over his nipples. And even when Tetsuya's lips left his and moved to ghost over his jaw and later neck, the hypnotizing effect didn't disappear. His mind was still in a pleasant haze where he didn't mind being touched at all and even, slowly but surely, was starting to find true enjoyment in it.

"Lift your arms now, Hyde," Tetsuya ordered sultrily, still half-sucking on Hyde's earlobe as he talked. The boy didn't even think to question the order - he just did as told and only made a small noise of protest when his owner took off his shirt because it made them pause the make-out session, not because he actually minded getting unclothed. 

"Progress indeed," came another whisper and Hyde managed to catch a glimpse of his owner smirking at him for a second before Tetsuya lowered his face out of his field of vision. The boy didn't even have time to feel disappointed about the fact that Tetsuya didn't come back up to him though, because soon he felt those same soft, wet lips painting a path over the warm skin of his taut stomach and that quick, agile tongue licking over his protruding hipbones that were just barely poking out from under the waistband of his pants.

This was... this was different. Again, it was new. Hyde gasped and thrashed a little against all those unfamiliar but intense sensations until he ended up with his head thrown to the side, his face pushed into the covers of the bed as much as possible and biting on his lower lip. This was already so much more than yesterday. He might be less naked, as Tetsuya was making no move to remove his pants, but he felt so much more exposed. Yesterday had been out of his comfort zone because there had been just so much touching, but those touches had still been aimed at _relaxing_ him. Today was the very opposite. He was breathless, his heart was hammering against his ribcage, and whereas yesterday the strange stirring between his legs had been so slight he might as well had imagined it, today he couldn't ignore it nearly as easily. Even his inexperienced, pure young mind was able to supply him the understanding of what that meant. He was getting aroused. Truly, physically aroused. For the first time in his life.

His owner seemed to realize, however, that Hyde was getting a little too overwhelmed with all the new experiences and thus he didn't surprise Hyde with anything else anymore. He just continued giving him more of the same, covertly glancing at him every once in a while to check if he was okay. There was no question about whether he noticed Hyde's condition – the man was far too observant to miss something as obvious as that but, fortunately, he didn't make Hyde any more embarrassed by pointing it out.

"This isn't that bad, is it?" he asked softly at some point, scuttling upwards and making Hyde un-bury his face from the covers, "So bad that you can't even look at me?" he joked teasingly and managed to get an shy smile from the boy.

"It feels... really good actually," Hyde forced himself to admit and almost tried to hide his blushing face again but Tetsuya's hand, still on his cheek, stopped him.

"Good then," the slave trainer commented, leaning in for a quick peck on Hyde's lips, "I think, however, we've made enough progress for today. I don't want to get to the point where," his eyes barely noticeably flickered downwards, "It gets really... _hard_ for you to obey your _rules_ after all."

It took a few seconds for Hyde's jumbled mind to get what his owner meant with that, and when he did, he flushed to the very tips of his ears. So much for Tetsuya not embarrassing him by mentioning his condition. Hyde should have known better. But as embarrassed as he felt, he couldn't feel angry about it. Tetsuya was just making sure he knew it was not a big deal. Because this was what they were, eventually, aiming for these sessions to lead to.

"I... I wouldn't do something like that," he defended himself, averting his eyes. He wouldn't even know how to start something like that, if he was honest with himself.

"I'm sure. You have shown to be very determined to not disobey after all," Tetsuya praised him then and leaned in to give him one last kiss, sucking on his plump lips before letting them go.

"I'm glad I discovered how to get you more receptive of touches. That will make evenings _much_ more productive," he continued, finally getting up and straightening his clothes out once he was standing.

"Does that mean.. we'll be doing _this_ every night now?" Hyde asked.

"That is the plan, more or less. At least until we have progressed beyond the first stage of training with you," Tetsuya confirmed, "Tomorrow you'll get to try touching me back," he revealed teasingly, giving Hyde a wink, "Goodnight now, Hyde."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was painfully hard to post. Sorry it's long and slow again. But hopefully I can fast forward a bit next time, finally.   
> Also, huge thanks to [stripedraccoon](../../../users/stripedraccoon) for reading through this for me <3


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